


The Better Alpha

by buffylover



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alpha Stiles Stilinski, Angst with a Happy Ending, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-31
Updated: 2016-12-17
Packaged: 2018-05-17 07:32:36
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 13
Words: 32,254
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5859850
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/buffylover/pseuds/buffylover
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Stiles was banished from the Hale Territory for college. For his own safety Derek said. But Derek never makes good choices and Stiles is bitten by an Alpha. </p><p>Who knew his life would be so good?<br/>There are going to be lots and lots of flashbacks. they will be between the ******  symbols</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Ok, so this was my take of a light and happy story. Most of my works are pretty angsty and sad. So i wanted to write a story where most of the sad stuff is in the past. Let me know what you think and I will continue it.

Stiles was running like his life depended on it. There were two huge werewolves running after him, laughing and taunting him. There is a scream in the distance. Oh, god. The Alpha must have gotten Lisa. They had been walking in a wooded area by campus. Two days after classes started at University and he was running from a rabid feral Alpha. What the fuck was his life? A blue eyed beta tackled him laughing. “Little rabbit wanted to run. You can't run from a wolf.”

He turned his had and saw only one beta, then he saw the Alpha. Completely turned and crazy looking. Stiles struggled while the wolf got closer and closer. But the supernatural strength of the beta holds him fast. He feels the heat from the Alpha as the monster leans close. “No, no, no no no”

The teeth bite down. 

*********** 

“Alpha?” A small concerned voice breaks his train of though. He shakes his head and turns and looks at one of his youngest betas. An adorable little four year old. “You looked sad.”

He squatted down and flashed his red eyes at her making her laugh. “I was just having a bad day dream. But you saved-ed me from it.” Making his voice exaggerated and spreading his arms wide for her. 

She giggle and ran into his arms as he swung her up and around making her giggle scream in a way that brought a sense of peace to him and banished the thoughts of his dream. She snuggled in close under his chin and he cuddled her. Taking a deep breath letting all of his stress go. She smelled like Pack, safe and happy. Stiles was filled with a sense of contentment, his pack was happy and healthy. 

“Jeri Anderson, what have I said about bothering Stiles?” Jeri's mother Andrea walked into the room. He hide a smile while the child in his arms gave of an embarrassed scent. 

“But momma, I saved-ed him from a bad dream.” Her little voice reasons with her mom. They both are fighting not to smile at how adorable she is being. He watches a tick in Andrea's face as she tries to stay stern.

“It's your nap time young lady. If you don't get to bed soon you won't be getting any desert with dinner tonight.” She says with the calmness that only a mother has about her. Stiles remembers his mom sounding the same. 

“But momma, I'm with the Alpha...”

He cuts her off, “nope. What's the rule about nap time?”

She sighs like he's asking her to do something exhausting, “That mommy and daddy out rank Alpha when it's nap time.”

He smiles at her and leans closer and kisses her forehead. “That's right, pup. Now off to bed. If you're good I'll read you and the others a story before bed.”

She smiles and goes off with her mom who whispers in an amused and loving voice “You are so wrapped around their little fingers.” 

He smiles at their retreating forms and shrugs. He is wrapped around all of his pups fingers. He has more children in his pack then any other pack that borders his, times two. He loves how all his wolves feels so safe that they are settling into families and having children. Most of his adult wolves are mated, some to other wolves and some to humans. He can actually feel the strength of his pack flowing inside me. And yet he feels so grounded and calm. He smiles and goes back to work. He owns a construction company. It's a perfect front for a pack of wolves. Most of his betas worked for him. It was a good way to keep his pack close to him and it made them seem more normal. You expected people who worked in construction to be strong so they didn't have to hide so much. It made the betas all a bit less stressed out day to day. 

He let his mind drift off again while going over house proposals. 

********  
Stiles was fighting back tears as he pulled himself up from the dirty floor of the forest. The werewolves had run off after holding him down while the Alpha bit him. He turned and looked at his side and clamped his jaw closed to keep the whimper of pain from coming out as he stretched the skin around the bite. “Fuck.”

Looking around he couldn't see Lisa but started to track his was back to where they has separated. He had hoped the wolves would fallow him letting her get away. He thought they must have smelled Scott on him. But he was wrong and they got her too. He was really hoping he wasn't going to find a dead body. He hiked around holding his side til he heard a small crying noise. “Lisa!”

He rushed over to her and winced as he saw the bite on her shoulder. She has struggled while the betas had held him down. The bite did not look clean, the edges torn and bloody. He pulled the tatters of his light jacket off and started to tie it around her shoulder. “Stiles! What the hell were they? Oh god, they too big to be dogs.”

She started to babble and he let her while he got her bite bound and got her up and walking back to campus. After a while she stopped babbling in shock. “You're too calm about this. You know what they were.”

He looked away at the accusation. “Yeah, I do. But let's get back to my room and get you cleaned up and we can talk.”

She nods and they keep up until they see the edges of campus. Stiles sighs at the sign of civilization. His dorm is right ahead and with a stroke of luck he never has he was given a single so won't have to explain this to a roommate. He gets them to his room without anyone seeing them and sits her down on his bed. He tries not to think about a pretty girl being on his bed and gets his industrial sized first aid kit from under the bed and starts to bandage Lisa's wounds. 

“So what do you know about werewolves?” He asks her.  
******* 

He finishes his work and moves to his balcony. Turning to look down the side he can see most of the front of his house. He built a three story pack house with four living rooms and tons of little suites for the couples. When he became the Alpha the previous house was in disrepair. The pack has suffered many hardships in a couple years and were not very together. He had worked hard and built one of the strongest packs in the country. He puffed up his chest a bit with pride. It had been hard but he had risen to the occasion and was finding everyday he was a better Alpha then the previous day. 

He was pulled from his happy thoughts by the sound of gunfire and a beta yelling “Hunters!!”

He turned to the sound and saw a dozen hunters moving through the woods at the border of his yard. Three of his wolves going down under their fire. He saw red and jumped down from the balcony and moved into to action. Moving to the two closest hunters he dodged their bullets and took them down with quick efficient claw slices. He growl in anger at the sight of two of his betas on the ground. Fighting every instinct to go berserk and kill everything in sight he moved with speed to the next hunter grabbing him by the back of his coat and spinning him to absorb the bullets from the three other hunters converging on him. Grabbing the mans gun strapped around his shoulder he shove his hand over the hunters and pulled the trigger and felt the slight jolt of the automatic gun sprayed a flurry of bullet at the closest hunters bringing them down. 

Bringing his teeth to the hunter he was holding's neck he then threw him to the ground. Turning to the final Hunter still standing he ran dodging bullets and jumped out of the way of a desperately thrown knife. Before he can get up he hears three quick shots and looks up to see the hunters chest splashed with red. 

He smiles at the pained look on the hunters face. “Haha, suck it. We won.”

The hunter makes a face at his comment and then pulls his phone out of a hidden pocket. “They beat us this side.” 

He hears the current hunter leader over the speaker. “They beat us on this side as well. But we were able to get eight of the betas down.”

He growls at the though of so many of his wolves being hurt. He speaks up projecting his voice so the phone will pick it up. “How many hunters were on that side with you, Matriarch?”

The hunter in front of him puts the phone on speaker. “Twenty. The current training program is working. Want to debrief in person?”

He nods his head. “Yes, dinner is almost ready. Have everyone come in.”

He tilts his head back and gives a soft howl. Not one that can be heard all over town, just around the house. It's like a switch it flipped and there is movement all around. The downed hunters getting up and brushing themselves off. He smiles as his betas get off the ground. He hides his smile as one of them, Lisa, whines about a grass stain on her cloths and glares daggers at the hunter to shot her with the paintball. “And now I'm going to have a huge bruise from it.”

They all head in and he starts to laugh as Jeri and two older brothers run out of the house and tackle one of the hunters. “Papa, papa. We saw the fight and we watched the Alpha beat you. Why did you let Stiles win, Papa? Is it cause you don't want a time out?”

He couldn't help it and burst out laughing. He goes and squats down by the family. “No sweetie. I can't give daddy a time out. Only his hunter matriarch can do that. And daddy did a really good job. If I wasn't such a good fighter and if our pack didn't train so hard, they would have won. So they did really really good.”

“Good job daddy!” She yelled and hugged her daddy. Stiles could smell the happiness from the hunters around him. 

They all headed inside and started talking in the kitchen. Stiles was proud of his kitchen. It was huge with a massive island. His house was one of his major showcases online for advertising his company. They watched the other group of hunters with Joanna, the local matriarch, walk through the back of the house and join them in the kitchen. He liked Joanna. She looked a little bit like Victoria Argent with with less severe everything. She was also a women in her 50's who could still beat the crap out of most men half her age. “Alpha Johnson” 

He smiles at her and nods for her to sit where he has just poured her a mug of coffee. He had taken the title from the packs name. He was still a Stilinski, he just went by Alpha Johnson. He is one of the few Alphas in the country with such a close relationship with his local hunters. Andrea and her husband literally united them. But unlike when Scott dated Allison, this wasn't contentious. Joanna was rational and honored the Code above all things. And his pack was healthy and didn't lose control. So the union of hunter and wolf have been oddly celebrated by both groups. They discussed the war game and what could have gone differently. They took turns attacking each others bases. Any flack that Joanna might have gotten from other hunters was taken care of after the first time she had been called for help and her men had beaten the baddie and kicked the crap of of the hunters who teased them for being weak on wolves. 

All in all it had been an amazing partnership that had even lead the neighboring hunter groups to become better with their wolf pack counterparts. Of all the things that he had done as an Alpha, the top of his list that made him proud was how happy his pack was, the second was that just by being a good leader he had been able to help packs around him. He had won over his neighboring packs that way. They had first been skeptical of his youth. But he proved every time there was an issue that he was more then equal to the task. 

He relaxed with his pack after the hunters had left with plans for the 3 trainings a week they had scheduled. Stiles was smiling around the large room talking with some of his betas when he hears his phone ring. One of his betas picks up and he turns worried at her raised heart rate. He gets up and goes to her. “What's wrong?”

She wordlessly hands him his phone. “Hello?”

“Stiles” Melissa's voice is throbbing with emotion. “You have to come home Stiles. Your dad was shot. It caused extra stress on his heart and he had a heart attack.”

Stiles can’t breath. “Is he ok?”

“I'll get his doctor on the line.” She says.  
“Hello, Mr Stilinski? Yes, I'm doctor Adams, your father is still alive and his vitals are strong. The bullet was through and through so there was little lasting damage from the bullet. The worrying part is that it caused a mild heart attack. We'll need to keep doing tests to see how badly he was affected by it. But on a conservative bent he will definitely need a least a couple months of help before he is able to go back to work.” The doctors calm voice annoys Stiles so much he wants to growl at him. He stops as three betas wrap their arms around him from behind. 

He relaxes into their arms. “Thank you Doctor. I'll be there as soon as I can. Please keep nurse McCall updated on his status. I'll be contacting her for updates.” He hears the doctor agree and hang up. 

He turns to his pack. “We have plans to make.”


	2. Chapter 2

Stiles was good at compartmentalization. He put his rising panic in a tight little box and got to planning. He sent Lisa off to pack a bag for him and herself for a couple day trip. He turned to Emily and her husband. “Emily, can I get you to come too?”

She was a trained nurse and one of the wolves that had come into the pack since he joined. She and her husband and kids and come for a neighboring pack that had been warring with them. They were both completely loyal to him. Her husband Nate just nodded his head at her agreement. “Just make sure your dad is ok.”

Lisa is of course coming too. He wants to show her around his old home town. He nods to Travis who just smiles and nods back. Travis is a Johnson pack enforcer. He'll need the help if thinks get bad.

The next hour is a blur while he notifies clients that he will have to reschedule appointments, the hunters and the coven that he will be leaving the territory and to not get out of control. He gets the two Alphas who have territories between his and the Hales on Skype together for a conference call. “Alpha Johnson, what can we do for you?”

He takes a deep breath and lets his eyes flash red. “Alphas Emmerson and Smith, I would like to formally ask permission to travel through both of your territories. My father was injured at work, you remember he is the Sheriff of Beacon County. I have to go home and make sure he is ok. I will need to drive through your territories to get there and back.”

They both agree and Emmerson goes even farther “My territory shares a border with the Hale pack, if you need any assistance let me know and we will come in force to help.”

He thanks then both. “I'd also like you both to be witnesses to my conversation with Alpha Hale. I don't want there to be any questions about me having permission to be in his territory.”

They both agree again and he calls Derek with the phone on speaker. “Stiles, why are you calling me?”

He rolls his eyes and hopes the older Alphas don't remember how young he really is, “Alpha Hale, I would like to formally ask permission for myself and others to enter your territory for an unknown length of time.”

“Fuck Stiles, why are you asking permission? Yes you can come.” Derek growls out. He can hear the sounds of the hospital in the background. It's not surprising at Derek is a deputy now and his fathers Alpha. He actually lets a low growl out at that thought. Alphas are naturally possessive. And the fact that his dad was hurt only cemented his idea that he was going to bring his father back with him, even if he had to officially challenge Derek for his human beta. 

“So I can bring whoever I want with me?” He stresses. 

“Yes. Do whatever you want.” Derek mutters and hangs up. 

He puts his phone down and looks at the two Alphas on his computer. “So, in case he freaks out you two are my witnesses.”

Alpha Smith gives him an appraising look. “One of these days we're going to get you drunk with some wolvesbane laced whiskey and ask exactly why you don't like him.”

He gives them both a sad smile and agrees. “Thank you both, and while I'm down there please let other packs know that I am away but that I will be in contact with my pack daily.”

They both look scared for a second before hiding it well and letting him know they will pass the word around. He thinks they are right to be scared. He's killed 4 alphas including the one that made him. There was a very valid reason his pack felt so safe with him, mainly because they were. He was deadly. 

Going down the hall he knocks on Andrea’s and Rogers door. “Come on in Stiles.” 

He walks in at Andrea's invitation. They are sitting in a little family room, there are half a dozen mini suites with multiple bedrooms and a private bathroom. They are getting the children ready for bed. “Did they agree?”

“They did, including Hale. I do have one question for you now. I want you to act as Alpha when I'm gone.” He looks at Andrea. She is the previous Alphas oldest child. The core of the pack respect her. 

She looks shocked. “Stiles, thank you but I'm not your second. Jared should be the Alpha while you're gone.” 

“He's a capable lieutenant. But you are a thinker. And the neighboring packs respect you and our pack adores you. Plus with cute hunter pants over here you have a solid ally support. The coven will support you as well. It's a perfect set up.” He smiles reassuringly at her. “If I hadn't come along you'd be the Alpha. You can do this.”

She nods her head agreeing with him. The first couple years he had hated to remind her that had her father died naturally she would have become the Alpha and not him. But he had eventually killed the hunter who had ultimately caused the previous Alpha to go feral and the two betas who had encouraged the rampage. 

*******   
Stiles explained everything to Lisa as he bandaged her up. He told her to not go to classes the next day and stay in her room until he came and got her. Going to his own room he called a number Chris Argent had given him. The local hunters. 

He met them an hour later at a local cafe. They were easy to spot. Looking dangerous and far to much like they were trying to blend in to the crowd. But Stiles has trained with wolves and hunters for the last three years of his life and he can see every tell they have. Going straight to them he sits down in front of the oldest women. She looks like she should be an accountant or something, not a leader with the power of life and death at her order. She looks at him and he can see the intelligence in her eyes. He's impressed. “I'm Stiles.”

“Yes, Chris told me about you. Leaving your pack and coming to school here. Told you to call us if you got into trouble with the local pack. So what happened?” She cuts through the chit chat, he likes that. 

Leaning to the side he pulls up the corner of his shirt, flashing bandage, a small bit of blood soaking through. And like a switch every hunter is suddenly in war mode with their hands twitching towards hidden weapons. Stiles doesn't worry too much about it. They're not going to do much in public. “Rogue Alpha and two of his betas egging him on.”

“So you'll turn. Unless you don't want to, than there is no shame in the other option.” He's surprised by the compassion in her voice. “There have been four other attacks on humans over the previous month. Lots of mutilated animals but the Alpha has only recently moved up to humans. He hasn't killed or turned anyone. All the victims described a rabid animal. One said he thought a guy sicked his dog on him.”

“No. I'll turn. There's nothing wrong with being a werewolf.” He defends. “But I refuse to be in a pack that has gone off the rails. I know the Alpha will call to us tonight. Try to bond us to him.”

“You have a plan.” She make the statement and raises an eyebrow. 

He nods his head. “I'll need a gun. He calls me tonight. I go and kill him. I'll be come the Alpha. We kill the betas that have broken the Code and the rest of the pack is off limits.”

 

********  
He shakes his head to clear the memory. The kids come out of their room. “Alpha, will you read us a story?”

Jeri and her brothers crowd closed and beg with large puppy eyes. The boys even flash their golden eyes at him making him flash them with red while they practically fall down giggling. He huffs out a laugh. “Find, I'll read you a story while your parents getting ready for bed. Than it's lights out. I don't want your mommy growling at me.”

The kids squeal and run back into their room. Andrea and her husband smile their thanks at him while they head to out to get ready for tomorrow. Andrea and Tom both have day jobs. He's a deputy at the Sheriffs department and she is a teacher. He goes into the kids room and sees them already in their beds while Jeri wave a book at him. He cuddles close letting the smell of the pups calm him while he reads a story about a little lost cub who finds his way back home. The children fall asleep after a few minutes but he keeps reading. Enjoying the time with the cubs. He's going to miss them. The way they look at him with such trust makes him fight to be the best alpha he can for them. He will never let this pack fall into chaos. Kissing all the kids on the forehead he heads out and catches Andrea and Tom coming back into the suite. 

“We're all ready for work tomorrow. Jared knows you're leaving me in charge.” Andrea smiles sadly. “He said he knows that's what you would do. He bared his neck and said he'd support me.”

Stiles feels a little wave of relief. He knew Jared would handle the new just fine. He was a great follower. The best in fact. He scent marked both of them on his way out while Tom grumbled about “wolves”. He smiled cheekily at both of them and closed their door. There was still so much he had to do before he could go to sleep. He goes and checks in with Jared. The man is older, about forty with strong shoulders and a broad chest that makes him look imposing. He would be a little scary but Stiles has seen the children climbing him like a jungle gym with an impossibly happy look on his face. 

“You were right to pick Andrea.” The man says before Stiles can open his mouth. “She will be able to think ahead of what is happening. Better then I would be able to. You just do what you need to do so you can sleep. You are a good Alpha, better then we've had in a long time. Female wolfs only have more then one child when they feel safe. We have half a dozen new children. Our pack is safe.” 

He feels a huge surge of affection for the man. The man was made to be an enforcer and he is the best. Taking his hand he places the betas hand on his neck. The perfect timing if the older man wanted to challenge him. The beta flashes gold eyes in response to such a form of trust his Alpha has for him. They part without speaking more and Stiles goes to pack a bag. He moves down the halls to his room just letting his hearing pick up all the little sounds that mean his pack is safe. Little mumbles of the kids in their sleep. Light snores. The house slowly settling in the night. The sense of family overwhelming. 

He gets to his room at finds one of his betas has already packed a bag of cloths and one for his toiletries. Taking a deep breath he tries to distinguish the scents of pack that overlay his room. Shannon. The pack mother. One of the kindest and sweetest women you will ever meet. Also shit yourself terrifying if you pissed her off. She was secretly Stiles favorite. Mainly because she reminds him of his own mom. Which makes him think about his dad. Which makes him fight to stay in control when he wants to throw his head back and howl in misery. What the fuck was Hale thinking not biting his dad? The man was a human in a wolf pack and he didn't protect him.

Taking a couple steadying breaths Stiles makes himself calm down. He doesn't want his pack to freak out. Going to his phone he calls Joanna. “What can I do for you Alpha Johnson? I still find it silly that you don't change the packs name.”

He sighs. “We've had this talk before. The pack is more than just it's Alpha. Plus they've been the Johnson pack before me and they'll exist after I'm gone. The pack survives. But that's not why I called. My dad has been shot. He's in the hospital. I'll be leaving tomorrow to go to Beacon Hills to take care of him and bring him back with me.”

“Hmm, I'm sorry to hear that.” She sounds like she means that and Stiles smiles. “Do you want to take some hunters with you?”

That surprises him. “No but you can notify Chris that I'm coming if you'd like. I don't see any issues while I'm there.”

“Really? I though your father was a member of the Hale Pack? That could get messy.” She cautions. 

“Not really, if Hale had done his job as Alpha than my dad wouldn't be in this situation and if he causes a scene I'll challenge him for his beta.” He says without to much heat. 

“Well, we'll keep the territory quiet while you're gone. Who is Alpha in your stead?” She asks. 

He smiles. “Andrea will be.”

That makes the huntress laugh. “Good choice. Sleep tight Alpha. Keep us up to date.”

She hangs up before he can wish her a good night. Hunters have the worst manners. Taking a deep breath he realizes he just has to go to bed. Setting his alarm he forces himself to try to at least rest. He knows he won't but he just lets the sounds of a content pack make his instincts relax enough for him to doze.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we learn how Stiles became the Alpha.

Stiles wakes up to the sounds and smells of his pack having breakfast. He grabs a quick shower and gets dressed. Going downstairs his pack bare their necks letting him scent them as he walks by making Stiles smile at the easy way his pack interacts with him. Breakfast is served buffet style when they don't have a formal meeting. Stiles moves to the living room where a third of his pack is lounging waiting to send him off. “Ok everyone. Thank you for being here. I'm going to be quick about this so everyone can get to their day. Andrea's in charge while I'm gone. I'll check in a couple times a day and hopefully will be back in a week or two. The hunters know and will be laying low while I'm gone. If anything breaks bad you call them. Than call me. Safety first.”

He scent marks a dozen of them while he moves to the front door and opens to find a beautiful women standing by his SUV with a packed bag at her feet. Shannon's sister Cassandra. “Can I help you?'

She rolls her eyes. “Why are men so stupid? I'm the healer of my coven. Your father is in the hospital. I'm coming with you.”

Shannon comes up behind him. “It'll be better just to go along with her. She's been this way since we were kids.”

He growls a bit annoyed. He wasn't planning on bringing any of the witches with him. They were allies but not tied very closely to his pack. None of them had volunteered to be his emissary but he had enough humans in his pack that they didn't need that special tie to humanity. He looks back and forth between the two women, both old enough to be his mom, and just shrugs. It's not worth the fight to make her stay. Her parents were a werewolf and a witch, he wasn't going to win. “Fine. Thank you for coming.”

Lisa and Travis get into the front seats and Cassandra opens the back door and motions him towards the back. He wants to argue but he wants to be able to stretch out and sleep for a while if he can. He climbs in and watches Cassandra and Emily get in the middles seats. He lets his mind wander as they start to drive south to California. 

 

*********   
Stiles first day as a werewolf is one of the hardest days of his life. He rides back to campus in the back seat of a hunters car and fights the urge to slash them all to bits. One of the hunters is staring at him with worry in his eyes. Stiles is feeling like crap so he makes a snarky comment. “Take a picture it'll last longer.”

Ok, not his best joke but the hunter makes the same done with your shit look that Chris Argent gets with him. The man moves his hand towards the gun Stiles knows he has hidden at his side. Stiles doesn't even think. He growls and leans in jabbing his left hand into the elbow of the hunter and grabbing the gun with his right. Baring his teeth he spins the gun around and aims at the hunter. 

“Hmm, not bad form. You didn't even flash your eyes.” Joanna watches the struggle from the front seat. “Did Chris train you?”

“Yeah, he said since I was running with wolves I should be able to handle myself.” He tells her without taking his off the hunter in front of him. 

“A wolf trained as a hunter. Has possibilities.” She sounds amused. 

He turns and looks at her. “No. No, a whole world of no. I'm not going to be a hunter.”

She smiles and turns back to the road. They get to campus and head to Lisa's dorm room. He leads the way. “Lisa, open up.”

She opens the door and Stiles swears he can smell the fear coming off her. He moves without thinking and nuzzles her until he realizes what he's just done and pulls away embarrassed. Joanna laughs at him. “No even a wolf 24 hours and already caring for a pack mate. Probably a combination of spending so much time with wolves and your new instincts.” She muses. Turning to Lisa Stiles sees a look of compassion on her face. Something he had never thought to see on a hunter matriarchs face. “So young lady, Stiles says he gave you a basic run down about the new world you're in now? Do you have anymore questions?”

Lisa looks lost for a second. “Is there a cure?”

“No” He and Joanna say at the same time. Instead of being funny it's just sad. Joanna goes on. “There is no cure for it. Even the old fairytale about killing the Alpha that bit you, it doesn't work either. I'm afraid you're going to be a werewolf forever my dear. What did he tell you about hunters?”

Lisa looks at Stiles and he smiles reassuringly at her. “That there are hunters. Some of them are assholes and some are good.”

Joanna looks at him like his dad does when he messes up. He sticks his tongue out at her. “We follow a code, we hunt those who hunt us. Basically don't be a dick is our rule. We only hunt wolves that have gone off the reservation and are hurting humans. We also help contain overflow when packs have any boundary disputes. But mostly we keep to ourselves.”

Stiles snorts at her last comment. “Yeah, unless you're one of the bat shit crazy hunters.”

“Stiles is biased. He has has some bad hunters in his past. The matriarch there let things get out of her hands. I'm not like that. I run a tighter ship.” Her voice holds a threat in it and both hunters flanking her stand a little bit straighter. “You are going to stay with us tonight. After biting a human the Alpha will want to bind you both to the pack tonight by trying to make you kill with him. It's a base instinct that almost all feral alphas have. Stiles can fight it. He knows it's coming and he seems to be in control of himself. But we're afraid that if the alpha calls you'll go with him. And that would be bad.”

He can smell the fear coming off of Lisa. He moves close and feels something new in his chest. Something wild and protective. He feels like lashing out. Instead he wraps his arms around Lisa and growls at the hunters. The men tense up and Stiles starts to imagine the quick easy moves it would take to bring them to the ground when Joanna just holds up her hand and they relax. “He's still in control. Don't worry. I have a feeling that Stiles doesn't need much of an anchor. Hmm, I wonder if everyone who was so involved with wolves before being bitten would be in such control?”

“I won't be your test subject and quit scaring her.” He growls out. He can hear his heart beat and knows it's going faster then usual. 

“You're right. She'll come with us for the night and we'll keep her safe when the Alpha calls to you both. And Stiles will deal with the Alpha.” She stands up. “I know this is a lot to take it, but I promise we will help you get through it.”

They head off with Lisa and Stiles goes to his room to think. He practices making himself angry and can't think of anything that upsets him enough to make him lose control. Than the thinks Derek. It's like someone punched him in the chest. He falls to the floor and curls up in pain. He can hear everyone in his dorm. The smells of people is overwhelming and he sees claws at the ends of his hands. He has the urge to run and rip apart someone but keeps breathing and thinking about what his mom would want. He envisions her laying in the hospital frail and sick but still so loving and kind. Her last words to him were 'take care'. He keeps fighting with his wolf. He grab hold of those words, and fights. He will take care, of the Alpha, of Lisa and the Pack. He stands up and feels stronger and more grounded than he has since his mother passed away. 

He looks out his window and is surprised to find that it's dark out. He fought with his instincts for almost six hours. Than he hears it. The Alphas call. He moves to his coat and pulls out the two guns and the extra clips. He quickly gets them ready and runs after the second howl almost brings him to his knees. He moves out of the building and into the woods with a wild exhilaration that he's never felt before. He knows from some extra sense where he is going. He gets to the Alpha and the same betas within minutes. 

The betas and alpha are shifted and covered in blood. Stiles can only smell animals. Good, no more humans waiting to turn. The one who held him down laughs. “Little rabbit looks like he wants a fight.”

He growls and lets his claws flick out and gives them a feral smile. “Not the first Alpha I've fought.”

That makes the betas pause and Stiles takes the opening them give him. Pulling out one of the guns he rapid fires 9 shots into the Alpha who howls and goes down. Stiles knows he only has a couple seconds to jams a fresh clip into the gun and pulls the second gun out just in time to fire into the quickly approaching betas. He gets off multiple shots into both wolves when he can feel more then see the Alpha about to pounce on him. He drops the guns and shoves his claws into the wolf who pins him to the ground. He feels the Alphas claws slashing into his sides and back but he jams his own claws into the animals chest pushing the wolvesbane bullets deeper. The Alpha roars and Stiles lets his fangs clamp on the throat of the beast and he bites down. He feels a rush of scalding hot blood wash over him and then a rush of immense power and strength. He shoves the dead Alpha off of his body. 

Standing up he shakes himself and growls out. “I'm the Alpha now.” Not bothering to hide the smirk at his own joke. The betas get brave and jumps at him. He dodges them easily and slashes open their fronts as they go down. He knows it'll take them a while to heal. Throwing his head back he howls and orders all his betas to his side. 

And that is how dozens of betas find him. Looking calm and relaxed next to three bloody bodies. Two slowly healing. He looks around at all the wolves, all looking scared and upset and feels his anchor in the the words 'take care'.

 

********** 

And he did take care of them. Looking at the profile of Lisa in the front seat he sees a well adjusted and happy person. They told her parents. Turns out she was a local girl who's mom was a teacher, who of course got Andrea her job, and her dad was the Sheriff. Who got Andrea's husband his job as deputy. 

The first couple months had been insane and hard. He had executed one of the betas himself and given one to the hunters so they could punish someone for breaking the code. He gave a speech to the pack about how those that made targets of the pack were to be punished and it was everyone’s job to make sure the pack was safe. He had faced almost a dozen challengers and beat them all. He used every technique he had learned watching Derek and the hunters. It was an easy victory each time. He made all the challengers omegas until they came back and acknowledged him as their Alpha. Some of them become his strongest supporters once they realized his was a good leader. He balanced being Alpha with being a college student. 

He made friends with the hunters and when one of them ended up responsible for cutting the breaks of the previous Alphas wife’s car, causing the accident that killer her and her two youngest children. The hunters themselves showed up with the murderer bound and gagged. Joanna gave a similar speech about the code being more then themselves and let Stiles decide what to do with him. He gave the choice to Andrea, who ordered him dead. Stiles ripped out his heart while the hunters watched. 

When things stabilized Shannon brought her sister to a pack meeting and by the end of the night they had a second alliance in places with the local coven. After one of their joint meetings that dissolved into a party. Andrea went off with one of the hunters. After that when she announced she was pregnant Stiles knew his role as leader was cemented. 

 

He must have been giving off some disturbing scents because Emily interupted him. “Alpha, are you alright?”

He smiles at her. “Not really, but I will be. Just worried about my dad.”

Cassandra huffs. “More worried about seeing Talia's son again, you mean. You have some serious baggage do wade through with him.”

Lisa shushes the older woman. “Stiles will tell us what happened when he's ready. Or not at all. Even though we are his pack and he says he loves and trusts us.”

He sticks his tongue out at her and sighs. “Fine. You know I was part of the Hale pack in high school. But I might have downplayed my relationship with Derek. I was sleeping with him for almost 6 months.”

His wolves erupt with a multitude of questions when Cassandra cuts them off. “Children. One at a time. Now Stiles, why didn't you tell us this before now? And why did you end it?”

“I didn't tell anyone cause I had no intention of every seeing Derek again and I didn't end it. He did.” He rolls his eyes. “We slept with each other and than one day while I was telling him about colleges I was applying to he freaked out. Telling me I was going to go to one out of state. When I told him he wasn't the boss of me he ran out of my house. Well jumped out the window. The next day he ordered the entire pack to stop talking to me until I agreed to go out of state. It took three weeks of no one speaking to me except my dad to make me agree. It was better after that. But never really ok, knowing they would all stop talking to me after everything we had all been through. I has 6 panic attacks. One at school and they did nothing. So when I came to U of O I decided I wasn't going back, than I became an Alpha and I couldn't go back.”

Lisa decides to break the tension with humor, there is a reason she's his favorite. “Well, that explains why you're still single after all theses years. You're still pining for the one that got away.”

“Brat.” He flashes his eyes at her. “So I have no idea how Hale is going to handle this. But we'll be fine. We're here to get my dad and get out. That is the plan.” 

 

Cassandra of course ruins his statement. “You know what they say about plans, the change the second action starts.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I decided to write from the POV of all four other characters in the car with Stiles on the trip. They bounce back and forth between real time and their memories. I just wanted to show Stiles being an awesome Alpha from others perspectives.

Emily's POV. 

 

Emily had always hated seeing people in pain. It was what had made her become a nurse. Now she had to sit in a car with her worried Alpha who smelled like pain and hurt. She wanted crawl into the back seat and comfort him. She glanced back at Stiles and sees him working on furiously on his phone. His mind always going a mile a minute. It was a major source of humor to the whole pack how their Alpha couldn't stop his mind, or his mouth. She lets a small smile show as she thinks of all the happy things that Stiles does. 

In the couple years she has been a member of the pack she has had many visiting wolves ask her about obeying such a young Alpha. They made comments about such an inexperience person leading a pack. She had felt the same when she heard of the new Alpha in the territory bordering theirs. It was why her husband had been sent to test the borders and find any weaknesses. They couldn't deny their Alpha. 

*********  
“It's just for a couple days. Alpha wants someone who will be able to gauge the Johnson Pack's weaknesses. I'm a detective. It's literally what I'm trained to do.” Nate sounded as helpless as she felt. 

Emily turned to look at her kids. They played in the backyard while their parents were having a fight about their survival. “He shouldn't make you do this. You have a family. He's never made anyone with kids go into something so dangerous before this.”

He looks at the kids too. “You know why he's doing this. We've had four children and half of them are human. He thinks were flawed now.”

Their Alpha had gotten more and more intolerant of humans in the pack. Those who had only born human children had been all but made omegas. Only coming around pack when the Alpha was gone. It had started so slowly that no one had noticed until it was unstoppable. They were both bitten wolfs. Strong betas who had earned high places in the pack hierarchy, they had two werewolf children and two human. They had been passed over for most of the ridicule but it had started a couple months ago with biting comments about how weak the humans were and how much of a liability they were to the pack. As the ones with human children or mates had stopped being around, the pack had become more violent. No one had broken the code thankfully but it was a close thing. Emily feared for her pack, she had felt so good and loved when they had joined. She zeroed in on her older daughter, 5 years old and human. And the huge bruise on her cheek. A beta had lost control and slapped her. Emily and Nate had challenged and killed him. Their Alpha had done nothing to punish the beta for harming a child of the pack. Four days later, Nate had been ordered to investigate the neighboring pack. 

He kissed her and the kids before leaving. The next week was the most stressful of her life. Following the kids and keeping them away from the pack just in case. Every new car that drove into her neighborhood made her break out in a cold sweat in fear that it was the Alpha coming to either kill or bite the children. So when a black SUV pulled into her driveway she fought to control herself and not wolf out and attack. But when a fierce looking woman and two men got out and she got a scent of wolvesbane and gunpowder she froze in shock, saying a quick prayer of thanks that the kids were all at school or daycare.

The fierce looking woman walk up to the door. “Emily Smith. I'm Joanna Argent. I'm here from Alpha Johnson, I'm here to take you to your husband and safety.”

The hunters heartbeat never sped up, never showed a lie. But she still couldn't trust her. “Oh come on, we don't have all day.”

The hunter just opened the door and walked into her house and sat down on her couch. “I swear, we aren't here to hurt you. Your husband was caught by the local pack and their Alpha has decided to have us come get you and bring you back with us. Where are your children?”

She finally gains control of her body and moves to counter the hunter and sits across from her. “Why should I believe you?”

“Alpha Johnson thought you might be hesitant to trust a hunter. I don't know how we get such bad reputations” The hunter laughs at her own joke and takes out her phone and dials. Emily can hear a person pick up.

“Yo hunter lady, what's up?” The voice sounds relaxed and happy. 

“For the love of pete, Stiles. I asked you to stop calling me that.” The hunter shakes her head. “We're at the Smith residence and the beta doesn't seem to trust us.”

“Just a minute. Hey Nate! Come over here. The hunters are at your house.” The voice turns suddenly serious and loses the happy go lucky vibe it had had. What type of Alpha is so close to hunters?

“Honey, oh thank god you're still alright. You have to hurry sweetie. The hunters are here to help you get out of the territory. Get the kids and come here sweetie.” Nate's voice orders her. She can hear the truth in his voice, calm yet worried for her. 

“Emily?” The voice of the Alpha takes over the phone now. “I know this is a lot to take in so quickly, but I swear your family will be safe in my territory. I need you to pack a couple bags fast and tell a neighbor that there was a death in your family and you and the kids are going out of town for a while. The local hunters will keep a watch on your house for a while you're gone and then when you're here for a while you'll tell your neighbor that you're selling the house, we can do it online and then have the hunters pack your house up and bring everything back to you.”

Emily is soothed by the thought out plan of the Alpha. “Yes Alpha. We'll do that.”

She can hear him agree then the hunter speaks again. “Ah ah ah, what about our arrangement?”

Now the laughter is back in the Alpha's voice. “Yes, as soon as they are safe in my territory I'll start the plans on your new kitchen. Slave driver.”

The next hour is scrambled as she packs and gets the kids from school the SUV behind her the whole time. She entertains the kids until hours later they have driven over the mountains into western Oregon and into a small town outside of Eugene. They drive through a wooded area that opens into a clearing with a huge house. They go inside with the hunters and Emily is soothed again by the scents of so many happy wolves. 

Nate rushes to her and they go to their knees so he can hug the children around her. She just breaths in the scent of her mate for a while until they gather their wits and stand back up. A beautiful and very pregnant women walks in with a younger man and a man about her age. They all bare themselves with strength. The women speaks. “Welcome to the Johnson Pack. I'm Andrea Johnson. This is my mate and this is my Alpha.”

The older man nods his head and smiles at her. The younger man breaks into a huge welcoming smile and waves a hand at her. She takes in his cloths, jeans an a graphic Captain America tee shirt. She tries to not huff out a laugh at him. Andrea smiles. “We've been trying to fix his wardrobe for years, it hasn't worked. We're all deeply shamed by his looks.”

Emily fights not to cringe at the fight she thinks is about to happen. Her Alpha had not allowed such teasing from his betas in years. But the Alpha laughs and hugs her. “Hey, I got rid of the 'I like Milfs' shirt. I call that progress.”

The Alpha makes a face at the kids and Emily feels her whole body relax as her kids laugh with the Alpha. 

And with a room full of laughter her family joined a new pack.

 

********* 

Emily smiled at the memory. Her family had prospered, her husband was a detective in the sheriffs department and she had gotten a job at the local hospital as a nurse. Her kids were surrounded by 'uncles and aunts' who all loved them and helped them. She had never felt safer. Looking at her Alpha she tried to imagine a pack that had kicked him out, they were all fucking idiots. 

 

 

Travis' POV

 

Travis kept his eyes on the road while driving but kept glancing at Stiles in the mirror. He couldn't imagine his life without his parents. They were all born wolves in the Johnson pack. He had watched his respected and loved Alpha fall into depression and madness to be taken down by a teenager. He had been filled with anger and had challenged Stiles when the boy had started to act like an Alpha. The boy had kicked his ass showing control that was scary efficient. He was allowed to come back into the pack when he swore allegiance to Stiles. Since then he realized the Alpha was capable and the pack was safe. They had set him up as a cousin so it wasn't that questionable that Stiles was living with them and using their money. He had quickly bought out a small construction company and started setting up werewolves in the business. Within a couple years Stiles was still in college and running one of the most profitable companies in the area. 

 

**********  
Travis walked into the newly constructed pack house. He followed the noise into the back yard and found Stiles training with three hunters. Most of the pack living in the house is watching as their Alpha hands the hunters their asses. It is a lesson on the benefits of training them with the hunters to make them a better force to be dealt with. They had no idea when they gained a new Alpha he had been training with wolves and hunters for 3 years. When the sparring was over Stiles had a couple cuts but they were quickly healing. 

His Alpha walked over to him and he again was struck by how close in age they were, he was only a couple years older then his Alpha and yet he felt the authority coming off the young man. He subtly turned his head to show his throat and Stiles flashed his eyes in approval. 

“What's the news?” Travis felt the Alphas approval in is chest. 

“Alpha, we've caught a beta in the eastern borders. From the scent trail it's the same one we've been catching the scent over the past couple days.” He says with pride that he was the one to catch the beta. 

His Alpha pats him on the shoulders as they walk back into the house together. “Bring him in. We can see if he's just in the area for a while or doing something nefarious.”

“Yes Alpha.” He nods his head to a couple more betas and they go to where he has the stranger beta tied up waiting with a couple younger betas watching. 

They manhandle the older man into a car and bring him to the pack house. Travis leads the way into the house to the study were he knows Stiles likes to do any negotiating. Andrea and her husband Aaron are waiting for them with the second Jared. 

They push the intruder to his knees. Stiles waves in an awkward motion. “So what are you doing in my territory?”

“I was just passing through.” They all can hear the lie. 

“Wow, you weren't even trying there. Want to try again?” Stiles stands up and starts walking back and forth in front of the intruder. “Or do you want me to guess? You've been in my territory for almost a week and you haven't made yourself known. If you were really just passing through we would have found your scent and not caught it again. Then fact that you stayed meant you are planning something. And it wasn't to stay. You smell like pups and fear, deep seated long term fear.”

They all jerk at that. Travis could smell the pups but only new fear. Stiles smiles at him. “Really? I'm the only one who smelled that. Get up close and try again.”

Travis does what his Alpha orders. He takes a deep breath by the strangers neck and smells kids, family. He can smell the sharp hair raising smell of fear. But keeps breathing and can just get a whiff of something older. Like walking into a movie theater the next day and smelling the fear of the audience. He says that to the Alpha. 

“Perfect. That's just how I would describe it too. But it's always on him. So what are you afraid of?” Stiles praises Travis and then turns to the beta. “You can trust us. As long as you don't want to hurt my pack I don't really care why you're here. I just am curious why you smell like fear so much. Let's start with your name.”

The beta is clearly trying to listen for the lie, but his Alpha doesn't lie. Finally the wolf comes to a decision. “Nate and my alpha ordered me to come and evaluate your pack for weaknesses.”

Stiles flashes his eyes and all the wolves in the room tense up. “Hello Nate, nice to meet you. Welcome to my territory. Is he planning on attacking?”

“I don't know. He doesn't trust me.” Travis startles at the words, they're not a lie. 

“Why would your Alpha send you to do this if he didn't trust you?” Stiles asks. 

The beta smells like misery and pain now. “I think he sent me here to either get me killed or to leave my family open to attack.”

Stiles stops moving and growls. They all instinctively bare their throats hoping to calm him. “Why would an Alpha do that?”

“Two of my children are human. He's been kicking humans out of the pack over the past year. I think he's going to bite or kill my girls.” The beta loses it and starts to cry. “They might already be dead.”

 

They all gape in horror at the idea of an Alpha hurting a child of his own pack. He watches Stiles eyes knowing the man is already four steps ahead of everyone and making a plan. 

“Gotta hate racists. Easy fix. If you're family is still alive you'll all come here. You can't go back without your Alpha learning of it and we can't go.” Stiles turned to Aaron. “Would Joanna like to do me a favor? We can have hunters get them.”

Travis has to fight the Nate when he hears the word hunter. Stiles rolls his eyes. “Don't worry. In my territory hunters are friends, not food.”

Andrea laughs. “Did you just quote Finding Nemo?”

Travis holds Nate down while Stiles come over and squats down. “In my territory we follow the code. The hunters have no reason to hunt us. We have a solid alliance with them. We can't go into your territory without starting a war but we can send the hunters. You see that man next to that very pregnant werewolf? That is Aaron, her mate and a hunter. I know that hunters get a bad rap but so do wolves. Your alpha sounds like a douche. Our hunters are just that, ours. They work with us. They make us stronger and we make them better. But what we need to focus on is your family. We'll have the hunters get them, have a neighbor circulate the story of a death in a the family and when we know where you're going to be settling we'll have the hunters pack up your house and bring it to you. Easy.”

“Not that easy, Alpha. You know what she'll ask in return.” Aaron says with some trepidation in his voice. 

“Yeah. Travis, this is going to fall to you. Are you willing to do it?” His Alpha ask him. The beta Nate turns and looks at him pleading eyes. 

“Fine, but I reserve the right to tell her shut up while we're doing it.” He nods his head. 

Nate speaks. “Alpha, please don't make a deal with hunters for me. I can go get my family.”

Now his Alpha breaks into a smile that makes Travis feels safe and happy. “Don't worry. We just have to renovate her kitchen for her. We did two bathrooms for her and she was such a pain we swore we wouldn’t work with her again.” 

 

************ 

They gained two strong betas and four pups. Nate joined Lisa's father at the Sheriffs department as a detective. Emily was a nurse who helped the pack. Stiles made good choices with the pack. He had seen Alphas bargain with Stiles, Alphas who thought with their biceps, and they all come out on the bottom when dealing with his Alpha. Either from Stiles just outsmarting them or them being impressed with his strategy. No one wanted to go against an Alpha who would decimate their pack. 

Planning. That was something most Alphas didn't do well unless they were born to be the heirs. He was in awe sometimes of Stiles, who had only found out about werewolves a few years before becoming an Alpha and having to lead a pack. Many would have crumbled under the pressure, but he had thrived, they had all thrived. 

 

Lisa's POV.

 

Lisa watched the scenery go by through her window trying to ignore the smell of distress and worry coming off of Stiles. She had already known about Stiles being a little in love with Derek Hale. They had become best friends while going to college. He has still officially been living in the dorms while the pack house was being built. They had gone to a party, trying to be normal college kids for an evening. She has asked him why he hadn't gone home with any of the very attractive guys or girls hitting on him that night. He had told her the story of his previous Alpha, of wanting the man for a long time and finally getting him. Then breaking his heart. She had wanted to rip apart the offending Alpha at the time. Now she just felt bad for him. He had someone as amazing as Stiles in his pack and hadn't valued him enough. Her pack valued their Alpha greatly. He had even made her parents part of the pack. 

*********  
Lisa had only been a wolf a couple days. Stiles had been with her almost everyday keeping her calm. She hadn't really been able to be alone. It was driving her nuts but Stiles had told her about needing to find an anchor and she was trying. But she hadn't been able to control the shift at all. 

“How did your friend Scott learn?” She asked her Alpha. It was weird thinking that she now have a weird supernatural boss who was in charge of her. And that they were the same age. 

Stiles laughed. “I threw lacrosse balls at him trying to make him angry while he tried to control the shift. It was awesome. Finally we realized that even when he was angry thinking about his girlfriend Allison calmed him down. So he had found his anchor. It wasn't hard for him to keep the shift controlled after that.”

“They only thing I can think of that would do that for me is my family. But I can't think about them without thinking that I'm going to be lying to them for the rest of their lives.” She actually tears up a bit. 

Stiles takes her hands and she starts to feel better. “Why can't we tell them? Do you think they'll disown you or think you're a monster? I wish I had told my dad sooner.”

She breaks down. “I don't know. I don't know what they'll do.”

Stiles holds her for what seems like hours. Than calls another werewolf to look after here. His name is Travis. He holds her while she cries. He tells her as he's leaving. “They will react like parents.”

 

After a couple hours and lots of junk food she hears Stiles coming back. She also picks up her parents voices and starts to hyperventilate. Until Stiles voice breaks through. “Calm the hell down. You're fine.”

Her door opens and she rushes into her parents arms. Stiles keeps talking. “Her emotions will be hard to control for a while but she will be amazing.”

“She's still our little girl. Hey baby, it's ok. Don't cry.” Her dad keeps saying over and over. When she pulls her head up Stiles eyes are burning red and shiny with tears. 

“Pack is family. They are your family. So they are pack. It's not the end of the world and you will be awesome.” Stiles voice says with a rock solid sense of solidarity. 

 

*********** 

Her parents had started to hang out with the pack after that. Stiles even became her dads favorite. They talked about cases all the time. Her dad was the county Sheriff. She knew it kept Stiles from feeling too homesick. They had even brought the killer of the previous Alpha's family. 

 

********** 

 

She was sitting at her parents dinner table on a random week night. Stiles was over of course and he was reviewing the Johnson case. Now that her dad knew about werewolves he was taking a second look at a lot of his cold cases. Stiles had laughed and said his dad did the same. 

“Son of a Bitch.” Her Alpha growled out making her jump. “What the hell is he doing?”

She got up and rushed into her dads study. “What is it?”

Her dad moved his computer screen toward her. It showed an auto shops work area. And a man moving under a car. Stiles was half wolfed out. “That is the Johnson's car. And that is a hunter moving under it. The photos of the accident show that she never hit the breaks. Probably because they were tampered with.”

He was visibly shaking with anger and she moved to show her throat to placate him. He of course rolls his eyes but seems calmer. “How opposed are you to me getting a little vigilante justice on this?”

She can see her dad wrestle with his feelings, than look at her. “He caused the death of three people, two little girls. Without more evidence it would be hard to convict him. Do what you have to.”

 

They had contacted the hunters and Joanna had brought the offending hunter to the pack out tied up and gagged. They had shown the matriarch the footage. She had been livid with rage. 

“He broke the Code. He's yours to punish.” She had said and turned to her other hunters. “We hunt those who hunt us, that is the Code. We do don't kill those that have not hunted. We do not cut the breaks of a car like a coward. We do not kill children. This man is not a hunter. He is a monster to be despised and put down.” 

Stiles had given Andrea the choice as it was her family. “We have some options. I bite you and your buddies hunt you down, I kill you, or I let Andrea rip you apart herself.”

Andrea had never killed anyone and didn't want to start. Stiles had followed through with the punishment himself and killed the man quickly. Snapping his neck. They buried the body and never talked about it. But Lisa heard many of the older wolves being impressed with his ability to bring justice to wolves. He had brought the pack together with the show that he was willing to kill for them. 

 

********** 

She shook her head and smiled at Stiles to give him a pick up. He smiled back. 

 

 

Cassandra's POV

 

Cassandra had seen and heard many things in her life that had made her furious. But hearing the story of exclusion from Stiles made her want to smack the Hale Alpha. She had actually known Talia Hale and wanted to tell the little shit that his mother would have smacked the crap out of him has she heard that story. She was always impressed with Stiles leadership skills. She had originally been skeptical when her sister had come to her after Alpha Johnson had been killed by a barely nineteen year old boy. But hearing the way he had killed the Alpha and the offending betas who had gone feral, she was impressed. To be completely honest she hadn't liked the previous Alpha too much. He was too quick to think with his claws and arrogant. Born and raised to the Alpha he was competent but an arrogant one that rarely thought beyond the immediate future. 

She had seen something else in Stiles from the first time her pack had meet with him. He thought a dozen moves ahead. From the moment he was bitten he had planned the best way to stay in control. It was reassuring enough in his abilities for her to ally her coven with his pack. It was something that had not happened in the history of her coven. They had been able to do stronger and stronger magic by binding themselves to the wolves. They grounded and helped the wolves stay closer to their humanity and they were able to channel more magic with the wolves draining their pain. They weren't out for wold domination but having more power was nice. They were able to do more with less wear on her witches. Most of them used the extra power to create more powerful wards, for peace, healing and strength. In the area her coven claimed as theirs, there had been an unprecedented number of healthy births and even the physical and drug rehabilitation centers had seen great results in all of their efforts. 

 

********* 

“Alpha Johnson, might I have a word with you?” Cassandra walked into the little cafe where the Alpha was studying. Shannon told her that he liked to study there with other college students. Help him blend in. Never mind that he was working on building a company and his normal classes. No teenager should be an Alpha of such a large pack. 

“Of course. How can I help you?” The young man motions for her to sit down across from him. Two young pack mates move to make room for her. The Alpha scent marking one that moves closest to him. Luckily college kids are affectionate by nature or he'd look a bit off. “They make an excellent latte.”

“Thank you but no. My sister has been telling me about your skills as a leader. I'm here to offer you more.” She says and watches as the Alpha raises his eye brow turning into a leader instead of a college student. She wonders for the thousandth time why he had come so far away from his previous pack, why an Alpha would let such a resourceful and intelligent asset move out of the territory.

“And what would you be offering me?” The Alpha asks very casually. She smiles at his show of strength. 

“Magical help, Alpha. You help my coven and I help your pack.” She puts it out there. 

The Alpha smiles at her. “While I appreciate your theatrics why don't we define 'help' more before we make any agreements.”

They verbally spar back and for a while longer before coming to terms. “So, your coven will ward and come to our aid if we are attacked. Not physically, of course, but with aid in the form of mountain ash and other magical means. And in return my pack will drain off strain and pain from doing magic so your coven is able to do more and we'll donate blood so your wards are bound by our strength and speed and healing. But if any of your coven ends up using our blood in any way that hurts the pack or breaks the code, I will not hesitate to hunt them and involve the hunters. And as the leader of the coven, I would hold you responsible for helping us bring them down with us.”

She gets a little sense of dread at the finality of his words. But she understand them. “I believe we can live with those terms.” 

“Well, we can start warding the pack house tonight and after we have finished you can help me at our clinic tonight. We have 8 cancer patients currently have are on the edge of being able to fight a little longer and giving up.” She lets the emotion out a little bit. Her coven ran a clinic. 

“And without pain and your helping them, they might find the strength to keep fighting more. I get that. We're in.” He flashes his eyes. 

 

************ 

Together her coven and his pack has saved one hundred and twenty five people. Their health and healing wards had lowered the rate of illness in newborns. She was incredibly proud of her coven. It was such a a good set up that other covens had contacted her and had begun negotiating with their local packs. Not all of them were as savvy as Stiles, so most of the negotiations has fallen apart. She had thought about even having the Johnson pack expand into those territories to help the other covens. But she hadn't brought it up yet. Now with Stiles' father, it might not happen in this generation. But covens thought ahead as well. Maybe the next generation would be able to expand and help more people. She just knew she would be helping Stiles for the next couple months until the Sheriff was alright again.


	5. Chapter 5

Stiles was getting a headache from all the conflicting emotions in the car. He was usually better at ignoring it but the news had shaken his control. They had taken multiple breaks but had made very good time. It was barely getting dark when they made it into Beacon Hills. He knows his heart did something spectacular from how every wolf looked at him when they drove by the Welcome to Beacon Hills sign. “I'm fine. I'm fine.”

Lisa rolled her eyes at him. “Sure thing, Stiles.”

“Hey, I'm your Alpha. Don't sass me.” He says trying to sounds authoritative. 

“Yes Alpha.” All three of his betas say in unison. Not even trying to hide their amusement. 

“Don't know what this world is coming to. Betas disrespecting their Alpha.” He says in a sad voice as if he's close to tears. Cassandra snorts and they all laugh breaking his momentary panic at crossing into the Beacon Hills boundary. He smiles feeling relaxed and less nervous. 

Travis is the one driving so he asks. “So, what is the plan? And where am I driving?”

“We're going straight to the hospital to check on my dad. When I know more about him and the situation than I can send you to my house to rest and Cassandra to the Hilton, I booked you a suite. You won't want to sleep on the couch in the den. I'm not even sure there is a couch there still. I haven't been home in a while.” He feels a brief surge of guilt but pushes it back down. He's been busy. And he's seen in dad a couple times a year. It's not like he abandoned him.

“No, you've been building a company and the strongest and most balanced pack on the west coast.” Cassandra's voice helps alleviate the guilt. 

He gives Travis directions to the hospital and they all head in. He checks in and heads to the ICU. He is aware that he looks a little imposing with his betas fanning out behind him while he leads. He sees Mrs McCall down the hall waiting for him. He kept checking in with her during the drive. “Stiles, it's so good to see you. I'm so sorry.”

She embraces him and he feels a small bit of his stress leave his body. She had been a mother figure for so long he couldn't imagine going through this without her here to be with his dad. “How is he?”

“I'm so sorry Stiles, but we we should wait for the doctor to tell you everything.” She glances around him and sees his betas. “Stiles, who are these people?” She asks in a curious but kind way. 

“These are my friends. Friends this is Melissa McCall, one of my closest friends.” He goes around and introduces them by name. 

Emily comes closer and shakes Melissa's hand. “I would love to discuss the sheriff's chart with you and his prognosis while Stiles goes and sees his dad.” 

Melissa looks confused and is about to argue when Stiles stops her. “It's alright Melissa. She's a nurse too, in Oregon. She'll be looking after dad when we bring him home.”

Melissa grudingly agrees and Stiles leaves them and walks into his dads room. He fights the urge to growl at his dad in the hospital bed looking so pale and small. His dad should never look small. Cassandra follows him in. “We'll have to talk to his doctors. But we will get him back to normal, or as close as we can.”

He nods to her and goes to his dad. “Daddy, I'm here.” Taking his dad's hand he starts to drain away the pain that his dad must be feeling in his sleep. He does growl than, feeling the large influx of pain. He shakes it off in seconds. He's an Alpha so heals the pain quickly. His dad already looks better with more color on his face. He leans in and takes a deep breath. He feels some satisfaction and a bit of anger that this dad smells mostly like himself and not other wolves. It had been bad on some of his visits to see Stiles. He than hears the doctor talking to Melissa and Emily, telling Melissa off for sharing with Emily.

He already doesn't like this arrogant doctor. Smirking at Cassandra he head heads out into the hall. “Dr Adams, it's alright. I wanted Emily read in on his treatment since she'll be taking care of him when he's out of the home.”

“Stiles, is it? That's highly irregular, why don't let me tell you what is going on so we can talk in private.” The man is in his forties and turning gray. He has that same arrogance that Jackson has where you know he hasn't really done anything to earn it. Stiles on the other hand has faced down multiple Alphas. His confidence was well earned.

“Yeah, that attitude is not going to fly with me. Since you have the Sheriff of your county on that bed in there I decided to look you up and contact the chief of surgery. You've washed out of four major cardiovascular programs at better hospitals and ended up here right after there were a number of mysterious deaths from hospital employees. I know, Beacon Hills crazy place. According to your chief you're a decent doctor but he will be checking in with the case as a personal favor to me. So why don't you just tell us what is going on so we can make a game plan.” He tells the man off. 

“Ah of course Sir. Well, the bullet was through and through. It didn't hit any organs but it clipped close to his spine and close to an artery. He suffered a mild stroke and we are a little hopeful as there was only a momentary lose of oxygen to the brain. The only part we're really worried about is that we won't be able to tell how bad the damage was to his spine until the swelling goes down and that could be a couple days. We induced a coma to keep him immobile until the swelling goes down.” The man says with a respectful tone. 

Stiles smiles at the man. “Perfect. I'd like it if Emily could stay here with nurse McCall. I've already cleared it with your chief.”

The man stammers an agreement and heads off. Melissa looks at him with a great deal of surprise. “Where did that come from?”

Travis whispers in a voice only the wolves can hear. “Our Alpha is a badass.”

All the wolves hide smirks. “You know me, Melissa. I had a lot of time to research on my ride down here. I wanted to know everything I could about the doctor operating on my father.”

“And talking to the chief and getting him to check in?” She raises an eyebrow knowing something is up with him. 

“I might have donated $100,000 grand to have the childcare’s wing remodeled. It made him very enthusiastic to make sure I'm happy.” He explains to Melissa. “Okay, so Emily and I will stay here and you two can head to my house and drop off Cassandra at the Hilton. I'll get a cab home in a while. I want to be with my dad for a while.”

They do as they are told and Emily starts to walk off and chat with Melissa, they start to share stories about their kids. Stiles goes and sits with his dad. He lays his head down and just listens to his dad's heartbeat. Taking some solace that his dad is still alive and seems like he'll stay that way. 

He's not sure how long he stays there but when he wakes up he senses danger. It's much lighter outside and he figures he must have slept most of the night. Emily is sleeping in a chair in the corner of the room so she is not what woke him. Than he can heart it. A wolf growling down the hall. He smiles at stretches as he can hear the werewolf getting closer and turns towards the door as Derek walks in almost in beta form, his teeth longer and his eyes flashing red.

He doesn't even bother shifting. Derek moved to far into the room and Emily has him flanked if it comes to violence. “Ahh, Alpha Hale. Good morning. Thank you for allowing me entrance into your territory.” He says officially to break the ice. 

“Stiles, what the fuck?” Derek growls. 

“Alpha Hale, I suggest you shift back. You're upsetting my beta.” He smiles baring his very human teeth. 

“You don't give me orders in my territory.” The older man states. He is wearing a deputy uniform. Was probably stopping by on his way to the office. 

So Derek was going to be a dick about this. “Did my dad ever sign over Power of Attorney to you?” The Hale Alpha shakes his head. “Ah, then you're wrong. In this room I do give you orders unless you want me to have you bared from seeing my dad while he's here.”

Derek looks blankly at him, like he's processing what Stiles said than shifts his features back to human. “How long have you been a werewolf and what do you mean your beta?”

He flashes his red eyes at Derek. “About 6 days after I moved away and I mean my beta as in she's my beta. I'm pretty sure that's what those words me when put together like that.”

Derek growl at him. He just keeps smirking. “So what are you doing here Deputy?”

“I'm here checking on my human beta.” Derek moves his head up trying to show defiance. Ok, so it's going to be like that. 

“Fine. Check away. He's still a ive no thanks to his Alpha who hasn't been here to check on him sooner.” Derek starts to shift again at Stiles' insult. 

“Alpha.” Emily's voice breaks their staring contest and they both turn toward the woman who is subtly baring her neck to calm him down. “Why don't we all calm down. You're very tired, Alpha, and this is an emotionally strained time. We should go back to your house and you can shower, change and eat. It'll be good for you to see Travis and Lisa, to check in with Cassandra.”

“You brought other wolves into my territory?” Derek accuses. 

“Yes, you said I could bring whoever I wanted. So I brought some of my pack.” He moves over to kiss his dad's forehead. “I'll be back later dad. I promise.”

He goes and hugs Emily. “You're right. I'll call a cab and we'll get some rest then come back.”

They go out of the room and he can hear Derek moving around the room like a prowling animal. He rolls his eyes and checks in with the nurse on duty. Melissa must have gone home earlier. They get an update that nothing has changed but they will contact him. He thanks her and by the time they make it out of the hospital the cab he ordered is there. They get in and head toward his house. He tries to hide his excitement at seeing his home again. He hadn't been home since he left for college. After a couple blocks he notices a patrol car following them. He's not even surprised. 

They get out and he pays at the same time that Derek pulls into his drive way. He's so not in the mood to keep dealing with Derek now. But he apparently doesn't get a say in it. They are a couple feet from the door when he hears a fight coming from his house. They bust in and he finds Lisa and Travis fighting with Scott and Jackson. Derek is hot on their heels. He is happy to see that his wolves are winning but doesn't want to have to hide a body. He is surprised when Derek yells at the same time as him “ENOUGH!”

His wolves stop at his order and he feels a deep sense of satisfaction as they stop. Following his orders. Scott stops fighting when Lisa stops but of course Jackson decides to be a douche and keep fighting when Travis stops. With the speed that only an Alpha could have Stiles moves up behind Jackson and has slams him to the ground with his claws in the blondes chest. Not deep enough to hit anything vital but deep enough to hurt like hell. “I believe your Alpha gave you an order, Jackson. Unless he's not your Alpha and I can do whatever I want to you?”

Stiles has to admit that the part of him that was bullied for years by Jackson takes a deep sense of joy in the fear in Jackson's face. Most of him is just tired. He grabs harder on the man and throws him so he slides to Derek's feet. Who just stares at Stiles like he's trying to figure something out. 

“You're a werewolf. When did you become a werewolf? Why didn't you tell me?” Scott asks looking like someone had kicked his puppy. “You didn't tell me Stiles.”

He sighs letting the adrenaline leave his body. “I tried to tell you but it's not something you can tell someone over the phone. Not that you would have let me get that much speaking time on the phone. Since every time we talked you would go on and on about Allison. Congrats by the way. Heard you finally popped the question to her.” He tries to not show any emotion that he wasn't here for that mile mark in his friends life. 

“You could have come home and told me.” Scott accuses. 

“I invited you to come see me Scott. I couldn't leave my territory for the first while. I had to solidify my role as Alpha. I offered to have you come visit. Hell, I even offered to pay for you to come see me.” He sighs again. He really doesn't want to get into this now. He looks at Lisa. She was there a couple of the times he had asked Scott to come visit. She had been the one to hold him when he was upset after wards. But he really couldn't have left those first months. It would have felt like running away and he might not have come back to a pack that was willing to accept him. 

“There is no Stilinski pack. You're not a real Alpha.” Derek says with fangs in his mouth. 

All his wolves growl and flash there eyes. “I'm Alpha Johnson. I didn't feel like changing whole packs name when I took over.”

He doesn't bother to hide his smile at Derek's shock. Hale much have heard of his pack. Scott moves over and tries to put his hand on Stiles' shoulder but the other wolves growl again. “How did you get bitten? Were you looking for another body?”

He rolls his eyes at Scotts' attempt at humor. “No Scott. I was minding my own business walking on the edge of campus, a couple days into my first year, when an Alpha and a couple asshole betas started chasing Lisa and I though the woods. It was not fun.”

Derek seems to be trying to recover from the news about him being the Johnson Alpha. “You've been an Alpha for years and didn't tell us?” He snaps. 

Trust him to go to anger to deal with surprise. “Yes, I have and no I didn't tell you. I didn't have to. You're not my friends and you weren't my Alpha. Why would I have shared that much about my life. You didn't even care enough to ask around with other packs so see if I was going to an area where an Alpha had gone of the reservation.”

His pack moves behind him and he can smell it's Lisa who wraps her arms around him and holds her face close to his neck, rubbing her face on his skin. It settles Stiles quickly. He loves his pack. They move to the couch and he sits down. Lisa and Emily sit at his sides and Travis moves to the floor and lays his head on Stiles knee. 

He takes in the scene of the Hales in front of him. Derek and Scott are a couple feet apart while Jackson is still on the floor at Derek's feet. He feels a flash of pity for them for a minute until Derek opens his mouth. “How did you kill the Alpha?”

Of course he doesn't ask if Stiles' is ok or anything. “I shot him than ripped his throat out. With my teeth.”

Scott laughs at that making Derek glare at him. Jackson pulls himself up and looks at Stiles. “So you cheated. God, Stilinski, you're such a loser.”

He smiles and flashes his fangs. “How the hell do you think Derek got to be an Alpha? It wasn't skill and strategy. We lit Peter on fire and when he was weakened Derek took advantage of the situation. Which was good thinking, good for you dude.”

Derek looks annoyed at the situation. Scott looks between Stiles and Derek. “Wait, you said that the Johnson pack killed the Alphas. Stiles, how did you do that?”

The Hales all look interested now. “I used the exact plan I told Derek to do but he said would never work and than growled at everyone for a couple weeks while the Alphas ripped all of you guys apart and threatened to kill me and my dad.”

“So your planned worked?” Scott asks. 

Stiles smiles at the obliviousness of Scott. “Yes, Scott. I won. Hence my plan working. And I only killed two of them. The hunters killed Kali, which I do remember suggesting to Derek that having some firepower would help the pack. And I let Aiden and Ethan live. They're living in my territory going to college. I killed Ennis and Deucalion.”

“How?!” Derek growls. Stiles can smell the anger/pain/confusion coming from the Alpha. 

“Planning Derek. They sent a message that they wanted to meet in an abondoned warehouse, just like here, and so I had time to plan. I knew what was coming when they come to a new territory to 'evaluate' a new Alpha. I decided that my pack wasn't going to suffer at their hands.” He says that to really drive the point home to Derek. “I brought my allies, the hunters and witches, and we planned to just kill them.”

“You can't just plan to kill people Stiles.” Scott says giving the puppy face that usually makes Stiles melt. 

“Scott, they tortured your pack. I don't feel bad saying I planned to end a bunch of power hungry sadists. Besides, talking with the hunters I found out Kali broke the code. She was trying to attack a wolf in Tennesse but the wolfs parents walked into the house. She killed both of them. So the hunters sniped her. Which was awesome. She was mostly dead than I finished her off. Using mountain ash the witches separated the Alphas and I killed them. When I got to the twins they bared their necks and begged me to spare them.” He says and watches it sink in. Derek looks like someone hit him between the eyes with a hammer. It was the exact plan that Stiles suggested to Derek one night after a pack meeting. 

The Alphas had come in saying they just wanted to evaluate Derek's worthiness at being an Alpha. No traditions or laws said they could, the were just that arrogant. They kidnapped Boyd and Erica after Chris let them out of the Argent basement. Kali used them as punching bags for weeks until they got them out of the bank vault. The twins had been doing reconnaissance and were sleeping with Lydia and Danny, they had helped their Alpha buddies but didn't actually torture any of the Hales. That was why Stiles had spared them. Ennis had followed his dad and sent them pictures of his dad. It was why he had killed the tank of an Alpha first. Deucalion had been the hardest. He has almost lost a dozen times during the fight but had been knocked down and while the Demon wolf have been spouting about strength and following the Alphas, Stiles had ducked behind him and hamstrung the ass. He had ripped his head off when the Alpha went down. Fighting the inrush of power from the two Alphas had been the hardest thing Stiles had ever done. He had felt how strong it would make him and let it go. And had felt three new alphas being created from the packs that the douche bag Alphas had left. Eventually they had settled in the north of his territory. Staunch allies and incredibly grateful to Stiles. He had help them become stable packs and was proud. 

Shaking his head he looked back at Derek. “I'm tired and have a lot to get done. Please leave my house.”

Derek sputters and leaves. Jackson limps out still holding his chest. Scott just moves to sit down like he is expecting to stay. Stiles rolls his eyes. “Scott, that means you too. I need to take a nap and plan what next to do.”

Scott stands up. “I'll call you later man. It's good to see you. I missed you.”

Stiles can hear that Scott isn't lying but it still annoys him that Scott seems to miss him but in five years hasn't tried to come visit. He settles into the couch and the scent of his pack and tries to sleep. He has a busy day ahead of him and will need his strength.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Quick chapter from Derek's POV

Derek felt like he was going to throw up up or pass out. He was reeling. He barely heard Scott and Jackson asking him what they should do now. He growled at them to just go away and took off to work. He was lucky that it was a slow day because he wouldn't have been able to handle a crisis while processing what he had just learned. Stiles was an Alpha. Not just an Alpha. But the Alpha with the strongest pack on the west coast. The Johnson pack was feared and respected. He had talked to Alphas who had nothing but amazing things to say about the Johnson Alpha. Stiles. 

He snapped at his coworkers who kept asking him if he had run into Stiles yet. They heard about him showing up with a group to the hospital and ordering everyone about. “He's fine”

Stiles words kept whispering in the back of his mind making everything harder. He used the same plan he proposed to Derek years ago. Derek had wanted to like the plan. He had was in his loft while they were dealing with a torn up Boyd. The Alphas had just dumped him in the alley and he had smelled the blood from his beta. 

 

************ 

 

“Help me get him bandaged up. If he loses too much blood he won't heal.” Derek snapped at Stiles. The boy gave off the scent of panic and fear but moved quickly to grab the sheet off his bed and took out a knife from his pocket and began cutting the sheet. Derek spared a second to think how much Stiles had changed, the boy he confronted in the woods for trespassing would never had carried a knife with him. Just another way he failed to keep his territory safe. Teenagers had to carry weapons. 

They get Boyd bandaged and Derek can relax when he hears the boy starting to breath easier. They'll just have to wait for the healing to finish. Stiles moved around the loft and kept staring at the Alphas symbol painted on his window. “Derek, are they ever going to leave?”

He really wants to reassure Stiles. But he's not sure he can lie to the boy. “I don't know. They keep saying that if I join them they'll leave everyone alone.”

“Yeah, cause people who torture teenagers are to be trusted.” Stiles huffs out. Derek agrees. He heard rumors of the Alphas going into territories with weak Alpha and 'evaluating' them. Just an excuse to be dicks. But there had been a few deaths in every time they visited a pack. It chilled Derek to his core, he didn't have a few to lose. 

Stiles moved to the table and laid out a crudely drawn out map. “What are you doing Stiles?”

“I have a plan. It might work but it'll take some coordination.” Stiles looked up hopefully. “It'll involve hunters and Deaton. But it would work.”

He sat for an hour listening as Stiles mapped out a fight with the Alphas losing. He wanted to do it. Wanted to think that it could be that easy. Just let someone else plan it and follow like he had been trained to do, to be a good beta and support his Alpha. But he had to lead. 

“No Stiles. It's stupid and will never work.” He growled and ordered the boy out of his loft so he could take care of Boyd. 

************ 

 

The Alphas had tortured them for weeks longer. Eventually targeting the humans more and more. Stiles started having the Argents over for dinner with his father. He never asked but he always assumed that Stiles told the Argents because after that more hunters had come into town. The Alphas left a couple days later. It took him months to get the pack to feel anything less then terrified all the time. 

One of his fellow deputies walked over to his desk. An older man. One who probably had been a deputy with the Sheriff. “Hey Derek. Did you check in on the Sheriff this morning?”

He turns and nods his head. “Yeah, they didn't tell me much but he seems to be doing better. Stiles is there so that will be great for when he wakes up.”

“Oh that's great. Stiles hasn't been home in years. I remember all the times that John came to work with stories about all the trouble Stiles was causing. Of course, the next day would be all about how smart and helpful the kid was around the house. Always making John eat healthy. We used to sneak him donuts and the kid would still find out.” The man says with a soft smile. Derek remembers some of these stories from the older workers. 

He finishes his day and heads to the loft. He can hear most of the pack moving about the loft even before he gets to his floor. Huffing out an annoyed breath he moves to his door and pulls it open. He looks around the room at his pack, Scott and Issac sit with Allison on a couch and Lydia and Jackson sit at the table, Peter sits uncomfortably close to Danny by the window and Erica and Boyd lay cuddling on the floor. He feels a pang that his pack is so small with such clear boundaries between the members. It's size had fluctuated over the years that Stiles has been gone. Most had stayed close for college but Lydia had gone to MIT and Danny had gone to UC Berkeley. They had gained some betas but they had chosen to leave the area when they were offered places in other packs. Derek never told anyone but he cried each time they left. Feeling like he was a failure. There hadn't been many threats to the territory. They were out of the way and many of the neighboring Alphas still respected his mother so left them alone. But no matter how hard he tried he had been unable to make betas join his pack. He had thought about biting more but that was always a gamble. 

 

Lydia gets up and starts walking around the loft. “So Stiles is an Alpha now? That makes sense now, why he hasn't come back to visit. Which Alpha is he? I haven't heard of a Stilinski pack.”

“The Johnson pack. He's the Alpha of the Johnson pack.” He takes deep breath to brace himself for the eruption he knows is coming. 

“What?!” Lydia's voice pierces part of his eyes making him wince. Damn banshee. 

Scott speaks up from between Allison and Issac. “He said he was bitten right after he got to campus. He brought some betas with him. They surprised us at his house.”

The brown eyed young man looks down embarrassed. He had guessed they had gone to the Stilinski house to check on Stiles when they encountered the Johnson betas. Jackson looks sour. “We would have kicked their asses had they not got the drop on us.”

Jackson is arrogant. He's never been able to cure the boy of that. Scott rolls his eyes and Allison puts her hand on his shoulder comforting him. “They were, well, it seems they were holding back. A lot. Like I think they were doing their best to not hurt us.”

Derek agrees. They were winning but they hadn't smelled like panic fighting his betas. Just annoyance. The perfect trust they has shown when they obeyed Stiles orders, the trust that their Alpha wouldn't let them get hurt, made his teeth ache to come out and growl at Jackson. It had been humiliating. His pack didn't follow his orders but more importantly they didn't show that same trust with him.

“That makes sense. Stiles watched us train for years. He would know how to train other wolves.” Erica lifts her head for Boyd's chest and looks at them. “How did his betas look?”

He moves to sit on the couch. His betas move away and he's struck by the scene in the Stilinski house again. The betas cuddling to get comfort from their Alpha. “He brought two woman and a man. They look like capable betas. One is a nurse, she was looking after the Sheriff when I got to the hospital. They have a magic user with them. I didn't meet her but I could smell her in the room. The Sheriff was doing better. But they won't tell me anything.”

Lydia arches an eyebrow at him. “Told you that you should get a signed power of attorney. I bet that's what Stiles said. Wait, the Johnson pack is the strongest pack. I've been trying to get the Smith Alpha to get us a meeting. I guess we know why it hasn't happened. We were dicks to Stiles before he left.”

Scott makes a wounded sound and his mates cuddle close to him. “We weren't that bad. He would have stayed close and he should have gone to a good school.”

“Scott, he got into Stanford but Derek told him he had to leave the state. He could have gone to a good school.” Lydia snaps. “You're a still a shitty Alpha for not telling us that was the plan. You just said he needed to make up his mind and to not talk to him. He kept having freak outs.”

He growls at her and she just raises her chin daring him to do something. He wants to but then Jackson hisses and they all turn to him. He stretching his chest muscles. “Stilinski is a dick. I still haven't healed yet.”

“You deserved that. I told you to stop fighting. If you hadn't tried to keep attacking he wouldn't have hurt you. You could have killed his beta.” He snaps at Jackson. 

“It's their fault for stopping. They didn't even defend themselves for me.” He acts annoyed.

“They trusted their Alpha to keep them safe. And he did. It was a show in his power with his pack. And we failed, you didn't follow my orders and they showed me that they have perfect trust in him. How dangerous do you think he is that three grown betas believe that he will keep them safe in a room with a foreign Alpha and two betas? I watched him move to take you down Jackson. He didn't even try.” He feels like shaking the blond. 

“Stiles can't be that dangerous. He's Stiles.” Erica rolls her eyes. 

“No, if he is the Johnson Alpha that he's more dangerous than we think. The pack killed the Alphas. And I didn't hear about them taking any loses.” Lydia looks worried. “What are we going to do?”

“We're going to research. Danny look up everything you can online about Stiles, his work his pack, all of it. Lydia you can help him. Scott, ask like Stiles is still your best friend and try to hang out with him.” Derek says. “I'll work on the rest.”

They have plan. It's a bad plan. But it's a plan.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There is a sex scene that feels a little dub-conish, but it's completely consensual. They don't walk about it but Stiles is very willing.

Stiles walked into the hospital with Emily and Cassandra walking behind him. He got some weird looks from people going in front of the ladies. But he wanted to make sure that if there was a threat he would be the one to respond. He didn't want another stupid fight with Derek's betas. Luckily they make it through the halls to his dads room without any issues. He glances at Emily and smiles in response to the reassuring look on her face. “So what's the plan?”

Cassandra rolls ups her sleeves and looks around. “Emily is going to distract everyone who might come intot the room and we are going to work on getting your father better. I'll channel healing energy into his body. I'm going to focus on his spine. Ready Stiles?”

He nods and moves behind her, laying his hands on Cassandra's shoulders. He can feel the extra power in the air around her. The next few hours are filled with pain he leaches from the witch. He's not entirely sure how much time passes. All he can feel is pain.

“Alpha, the doctors are coming.” Emily breaks the trance he is in to deal with the pain. Looking down he can see deep black lines on his hands moving up to his shirt. 

He turns to Emily “Are the lines on my neck?”

“No, Stiles. You look almost normal now.” She moves to block the view from the door to give him a chance to get himself together. 

He lets Cassandra lean on him while he drains a little most pain from her. She smiles in thanks. The doctors walk into the room and take his dads vitals. Dr Adams refuses to look him in the eye and he almost wants to growl just to see what the man would do. 

One of the nurses comes over. “Mr Stilinski, your fathers vitals are strong and he seems to be doing much better. Since the swelling seems to have gone done sooner than we expected we'll be doing a series of tests today to check on the state of his spine and reaction times. If you want it would be easier without all the extra people here. We can contact you when we are done.”

He nods his head and leads his group out of the hospital. Cassandra is getting heavier while they walk. He needs to get her into a bed for a nap soon. They drive back to his house while planning the rest of the day. He gets home and they help Cassandra in to his bed. He will let her sleep than check up on his dad. 

Going downstairs his betas crowd close while he scent marks them. Laughing softly. “You guys are so needy. I've only been gone a couple hours.”

“Yeah but you rarely come back after a couple hours smelling like deep pain. It sucks. Go shower.” Lisa says with a pointed finger. 

He growls about snarky betas and does as he's told. He strips and gets into the shower. The heat from the water helps his sore muscles relax and the memory of the pain fades. He climbs out of the shower and finds the cloths one of his betas laid out for him. Going back downstairs Lisa has made food. They eat while he gets updated from the pack. 

He pulls up Andrea on Skype. “How are things my Alpha-in-training?”

She laughs at his joke. “Things are fine here, Stiles. The hunters have been patrolling with us and there hasn't been even a scent of other packs in our borders. Looks like we'll be fine while you're gone. The pack misses you. The kids want to know if you can read to them tonight.”

He laughs at her. “Of course, I'll read to them. Things are ok here. My dad is doing better. Cassandra has done one healing session, we'll continue until he's ready to come home. I've already contacted a local physically therapy group here about an in home nurse to help support Emily with his care. If it comes to it, I'll just ask if he wants the bite.”

He's almost curtain that his dad doesn't want to be bitten or he would have asked Derek before now. As if she can read his mind she brings up the local alpha. “So have you run into Derek yet?”

She knows his history with Derek so he growls and shakes his head. “We have. It ended with a small fight when two of his betas tried to break in to my house. I think they all got used just coming through the windows when we were teens. It's annoying. But as long as he doesn't get in my way we'll be gone in a couple days and he won't be my problem.”

She gives him the look the only a mother can do. “Sure thing.”

“Fine, it'll be weird as hell but we'll all get through this and I'll be home as soon as I can.” She just smirks and they disconnect. 

Cassandra comes down the stairs looking much more together. “Well, your father is going to be ok. His spine is intact but he'll be in a wheelchair for awhile. I'm not sure how long, but we can keep healing him until he's the best we can get him.”

He feels a knot in his stomach loosen. “Oh thank god.” He likes how she gives it to him straight. Not saying his father will be good as new. They'll get him as good as he can. And if his dad wants he'll bite him. And if he doesn't, he's an Alpha of a huge pack. His dad will be taken care of well. 

Travis is sitting closest to him and leans and and snuggles his side. Stiles' mind is already going around in circles planning out what he has to do now. Cassandra gets his attention. “It'll be a couple more healing sessions before we can bring him home. But I'm estimating a couple days.”

He smiles at her. “Thank you so much.”

She waves it off and gets food. Lisa leans into his other side and he settles into the scent of pack and peace. He lets them comfort him as he comforts them. It's a beautiful cycle. They cuddle like this for an hour. The pain from helping his dad fades to nothing. He doesn't realize he's fallen asleep until the betas move around him. He flails about and jumps up from the couch. “I wasn't asleep.”

The betas laugh and Cassandra walks over and pats him on his cheek. “Sure you weren't. You were just resting your eyes.”

“Ok, how long was I out?” He asks. 

Lisa responds. “Only an hour. Nothing happened. We all got a nice break and Cassandra ate a good meal. You're fine Stiles. Things can go on while you're asleep.”

He knows that he worries and tends to micro-manage. He rolls his eyes and playfully bites at the air in front of Lisa's face making all the betas laugh even harder. “Disrespectful betas.”

“You know you love us.” Travis scoffs. He flashes his golden eyes at Stiles. 

Stiles feels the calm comforting feeling of pack surround him. He starts to think about his dad. With Cassandra's prognosis he's getting everything set up in his head. They'll clear out this the dining room in front of the house. They never used it when he was in high school. The last time he remembers them using it was before his mom died when they would have big holiday dinners. It's close to the front door so it'll be easy to to maneuver his dad. Frowning at the front door he can envision the front steps. That will be a pain for hi dad to use for a while. Lisa smirks. “Our Alpha is planning something.”

“Of course I am. It's why I'm the Alpha.” He returns her smirk. “We're going to clear out the dining room and make it a room for my dad. Travis gets to use his hands for a while. Feel like building ramp?”

Travis' face shows surprise for a minute before a huge smile breaks through his surprise. “I'd love that. It's a good idea. Especially if your father is going to be in a wheelchair for a while. And a ramp would be easier when he's better. I'll start the design and get the wood today. Can I borrow the car?”

“Sure. I'm actually going to go for a run, have some extra energy I need to burn off.” He tells them. They wave him off as he scent marks them before changing into work out cloths and leaving the house. He makes it out of town fairly quickly and runs the preserve to the south of town. He gives in to his instincts and half shifts as he runs. Feeling a sense of freedom he hasn't felt since coming into Beacon Hills he ran letting the scents of the forests clear his head. A little voice in the back of his head is shocked at how little the forest smells like Hale pack. The forests on the outskirts of his territory smelled like his pack all the time, letting any threats know that his territory was regularly patrolled. Thinking about Derek leads him into bad memories he had fought to keep at bay for years. 

 

********* 

“Stupid fucking werewolves.” Stiles burst into his room. Derek had again fucked up and again Stiles idea had saved the day. Than of course the Alpha had lost his temper and slammed the human into the wall and growled that he should stay out of it. Stiles had countered that if he had then Isaac would have been killed. Derek had roared and ordered everyone out of the loft. Stiles could still feel the Alpha's hands on his chest, still feel the heat. “Stupid fucking sexy as hell werewolf.”

He quickly stripped his pants off, they had a little bit of blood on them. Flopping onto his bed he lays there thinking about Derek and how close they had been, feeling the man's breath on his face. He found himself flushing as his cock started to harden. Smiling he pulled his underwear off and reached to his supply of lube. He hung around a bunch of insanely hot people, he needed this. Lubing his cock up he feels a shudder of tension leave his body as he wraps his hand around his cock and starts to slide it up and down. Feeling brave he lets his legs fall open and moves his hand lower. Feeling his wet finger around his tight rim he closes his eyes and tries to remember how Derek's breath felt on his face. He whimpers Derek's name and blushes at the needy whine that comes out of his mouth as he pushes a finger inside himself. 

He clamps his mouth shut to keep quiet. He he doesn't hear the wolf soundlessly moving through his window. He almost has a heart attack when he feels the bed dip. Before he can do anything there is a hand around his neck gently holding him down to his bed. A second hand wraps around his own wrist and pushes deeper into himself. He whines again and stares at Derek. The Alpha's eyes are red and he looks intently on where Stiles' fingers are sliding in and out of himself. “So, I guess there is a way to shut you up.”

He tries to protest but Derek uses his own hand to push a third finger deep into his ass. Derek growls out. “Shut up. You're going to listen to me for once.”

Stiles hates how turned on he gets by Derek being forceful. He lets his legs fall even further which makes Derek's eyes flash brighter red and the wolf stands quickly leaving Stiles' fingers still inside him. Derek strips so fast Stiles almost makes a comment about ripping cloths. Derek must know him too well because he growls at the boy. Stiles just watches Derek prowl back to the bed and crawl up to him. Stiles can't take his eyes off of Derek's dick. Stiles has measured his, every boy has, and he's a respectable 7 inches but Derek's makes his look small and thin. He must smell like fear for a minute because Derek stops looking so angry and leans in nuzzles Stiles' cheek. “I got you.”

Derek puts Stiles legs on his shoulder and he tries to remain calm as the position stretches his back. Derek reaches past Stiles head and grabs the lube. Stiles flinches when Derek pours the lube directly on his hole. The wolf smirks and then pours the lube all over his large cock. The smirk turns almost affectionate as he pushes against the loosened hole. He freezes with just the tip pushing in as if he's waiting for Stiles to say no. Stiles is so turned on he can barely think. He whimpers “Please.”

Derek's smile turns darker and predatory as he pushes in to Stiles virgin hole. Stiles moans and instinctively pushes at Derek trying to move the heavy man off of him. Derek growls and bends Stiles in half shouldering Stiles hands aside as he buries his shaft deep into Stiles and his face into Stiles' neck. Huffing and grunting in his ear he realizes that Derek is letting him get used to the incredible stretch of Derek's cock inside him. He raises his arms back up and puts them on Derek's shoulders. He has no idea what to do. Derek made a satisfied noise and Stiles moved to get a better grip of Derek's shoulders. Derek started to slowly pull in and push back in, Stiles felt like he was being turned inside out. He started to moan and arch his back to feel Derek deeper. 

“You can be quiet for me Stiles. So good on my cock.” Derek moves pulling himself up and starts to hammer into Stiles. The shock almost makes Stiles scream than Derek is moving Stiles' head closer to the wolf's shoulder. Stiles bites down to keep from making noise. “That's right, Stiles. Let me keep fucking you. Oh god, you feel so good. Want to make you cum on my cock. Fill you with my seed.”

Stiles is lost in a haze. Derek is pounding into a spot that is making Stiles' eyes roll into the back of his head. Derek's porn worthy words are going straight to his cock. “Fuck Stiles. I can smell how close you are, you're getting so tight for me. Like your hole was made for my cock.”

Stiles actually sobs as he shoots all over his stomach and chest without touching himself. Derek pulls Stiles' head back and Stiles is amazed at how intense and happy Derek looks. “Mine.” Derek growls and claims his mouth. His overactive mind finds it funny that Derek was fucking him before their first kiss. Than his mind is overwhelmed at the sensations as Derek keeps fucking him hard. He wants to beg Derek to stop, to take a break, anything that will stop the overload of sensations. But Derek is swallowing all of his protests by devouring his mouth with passionate kisses. Derek goes for a long long time until Stiles thinks he's crying from how good it feels when Derek slams into him deep and starts to grind his cock in slow circles. Stiles lays there and takes it when he feels the pressure increase. Holy shit, Derek's cock was getting bigger at the base. Stiles tries to pull back and question Derek but all the wolf does is grind his now huge cock deeper, the stretch making Stiles whimper, and kiss Stiles like it's his job. Stiles doesn't even notice the movement until Derek has wrapped his hand around his cock until he's already started jacking him off. 

He wants to fight but the combination of Derek jacking him and the pressure on his insides he gives in and lets the Alpha make him cum again. His mind goes blank for a while and when he comes back Derek is whispering to him now, “So good, Stiles. You're so good for me. Perfect. Full of my cum and knot.”

He hovers between conscious and unconscious until he lets himself fall asleep to Derek's heat over him and his gentle words make Stiles feel safe. 

 

*************** 

Growling he shakes the memory out. He is glad his betas aren't here. He doesn't like it when they smell him like this, sad and lonely. That first night Derek and he has sex, he had thought as he fell asleep that night, that this was the start of their relationship. But he had woken up alone. Derek had ignored his texts for two days and when he had shown up at the loft the jerk has asked what he wanted. He had only wanted to talk about what the hell had happened. But Derek had only gotten a smirk on his face, started to strip and told him if he wanted a repeat all he had to do was ask. Stiles had waited almost a full minute before giving in and joining Derek. They fell into a pattern of ignoring each other then falling into bed and having mind blowing sex for hours. Stiles had never dated in high school. He had tried a little but none of them ever got why he was so close with his friends and why they all seemed to be 'different'. It had been easier to just keep getting sex from Derek. The only bad thing was that Derek in bed was kinda sweet. Telling Stiles how amazing and perfect he was. The dichotomy of sweet Derek and asshole Derek had made his high school years very confusing. It wasn't until a while after he was turned that one of his older betas explained to him that knotting was only something a wolf did when they really trusted and cared about a person. Usually it was reserved for mates. Stiles has just written it off as Derek being even more damaged then he previously thought. He knew it couldn't have been because Derek actually cared. 

He looked around the forest and realized he was further south that he had planned on running but had gotten stuck in his memories. He was still well within the Hale territory but now he was picking up a wolf scent, faint but distinct. He couldn't place the wolf. It wasn't a scent that he had found on Jackson, Scott or Derek since he had been back. He let a deep growl echo around the woods making all the locals go silent. He followed the scent to the very boundary of the territory. He tracked it all over the southern border, becoming more and more agitated as he kept finding the same scent overlaid in areas, as if the wolf had come into the territory multiple times. He would make a note to ask Derek about it, he couldn't have his dad getting involved in a border dispute. He didn't want to make a big deal about it. For all he knew Derek had made the border more porous since his pack was smaller. He would have been annoyed if a beta from a different pack kept coming into his territory but each Alpha ran their pack differently. He turned and ran home with his head full of questions. 

He would ask Derek if he had a chance. But his dad was his priority.


	8. Chapter 8

Derek was finished up at the Sheriffs office. Without the boss on duty the paperwork was building up quickly and Derek didn't want the man to be overwhelmed when he got back. He was annoyed that Stiles had ordered the doctors to tell him updated first before Derek. He was the man's Alpha, he was supposed to take care of him. He can hear Stiles' annoyed voice in his head telling him that if he had been taking care of the man he wouldn't be in the hospital in the first place. He agreed with the voice in his head. He should have done a better job in taking care of John. He knew he had to work harder to keep the humans in his pack safer. John and Melissa had officially joined his pack a year after Stiles had left. Melissa because she felt that the pack needed more adults in the pack. She was right. His pack had a distinctive juvenile energy about it that has made it hard to keep older betas interested in staying. But even with the older members bringing some balance to the pack he hadn't been able to keep new betas longer then a few months. 

He was afraid that he was the one responsible for most of that. After the Alpha pack had left, after another girlfriend turned out to be a psycho and Scott, Allison and Stiles had awakened the Nemeton and it hadn't been as hard as they originally feared but it definitely drew some more attention they he liked, bringing supernatural creatures to the territory. He had eventually asked the Sheriff to join the pack to help cover all the random things happening in the city. The Sheriff had joined with the provision that Derek tell him everything and never hold any information back. The only thing that he had ever held back was his feelings for the man's son. 

********* 

He dropped into Stiles' room, making sure to not wake up the boy. He had an itch that had been getting worse all week. He had been having sex with Stiles for months and it had only gotten better each time. He knew werewolves have naturally high sex drives but the scent of his teenage mate had been driving him nuts. The boy jacked off a couple times a day and it made every instinct he had argue that he should be the one making his mate cum. Stripping his cloths off quickly he stroked his hardening cock while pulling Stiles' blanket down a bit and climbing into spoon his mate. 

“Mmmm, Derek? What are you doing?” Stiles mumbled half asleep. 

“Just go back to sleep, Stiles.” He soothed the boy. Burying his face in Stiles neck he took a deep breath and almost moaned at how hard the scent made him. 

Feeling his cock must make the teen wake all the way up. “Screw that. Naked fun now.”

Stiles rolls over and Derek captures the boys mouth and rolls them together pinning the boy beneath him. Thrusting his hips he savors the noises Stiles makes while he fucks the boy. Stiles scratches at his back and it just spurs him on to do better, to make his mate cum harder. He gets lost in inside his mate for hours and finally finishes with his knot deep in the boy and Stiles bliss-ed out and nearly passed out from all the fucking. His mates stomach and chest covered in cum from the multiple orgasms he had wrung out of the boy. Pushing himself deeper he settles in to relax until his knot goes down. Caressing Stiles' body as his mate falls asleep with him still deep inside the teen. 

When his knot goes down he pulls out and cleans Stiles off kissing and licking all over his body. Watching Stiles sleep for a couple minutes he grows restless. Wanting to fall asleep wrapped around him. But he knows if he did that, if he woke up with the boy it would send the wrong message. That this was more then just sex. He hated himself for leaving out the window but if he stayed much longer he would utter those words that would change everything. Whispering 'I love you' into the darkness outside Stiles' window was the closest he could get. 

Running through the woods until he got back to his house only took a few minutes. Peter was there waiting reading a book. “Ahh Derek. Back so soon? Will you ever just stay there?”

He ignores the ass and goes upstairs to shower. He doesn't want the pack to smell Stiles on him too much. Scott always glares at him and makes the others side with him. He doesn't need anymore issues with his pack. They were barely hanging on to a semblance of unity. Scott fermenting little rebellions and second guessing him at every turn. Jackson refusing to listen and Isaac's self esteem issues. He had to make sure Stiles was safe and he couldn't do that here. Stiles had to leave.

 

********** 

 

Shaking his head he looked back at the report he had been working on before he got lost in a daydream. The last time he made love to Stiles had been one of the best memories he had, before he broke Stiles and sent him away. The only silver lining had been that John agreed with him when he told him. He had wanted Stiles away from all of the fighting and supernatural elements. It has been a huge fluke that Stiles had been bitten. He had checked with sources and the territory Stiles was moving to was quiet. There were no signs that the local Alpha was going to go off the rails. He had always though he would have a chance to beg Stiles to forgive him when he came home from college. His own heart had broken when John came home from a visit during Stiles' senior year and told him Stiles had started a company and was going to stay in Oregon. He had tried to date men and women. Tried to move on but he couldn't get Stiles out of his mind. 

“Hey, Hale. You stopping by the hospital to check on the Sheriff?” One of his fellow Deputies came up and sat on the edge of his desk.

“Yeah, Smith. I'm going to stop by after work today. But I did get a call that he's doing better. Not awake yet but his vitals are stronger.” He tells the man. He's aware that he's become one of the Sheriff's favorite deputies. He is proud he has earned the trust of the man and that trust communicated to the other deputies. He's learned a lot from the man. He's become a better man because of the Sheriff. 

“Well, tell him and Stiles we are all pulling for him.” Smith pats him on the shoulder and heads back to his desk.

“Will do.” He calls after the man. Putting himself back to work he finishes everything so he can go check on the Sheriff.

He drives to the hospital and heads in, nodding to some of the people he knows. He's worked hard at being more social. He stops when he hears Melissa chatting with Stiles' beta. Emily something. “Oh, don't get me started on messes. Scott was so bad, he and Stiles could make a mess in no time. One time I left them eating lunch, just for a couple minutes to use the bathroom and came back. They had gotten food everywhere and had mustard in their hair. I still to this day have no idea how they did it.”

The two women break into laughter and Derek is reminded of all the times he caught his mom talking with his friends parents. Emily says “I have two boys and two girls, they have a natural talent for destruction. You're lucky Scott wasn't a wolf when he was younger, they have no fear since they heal so quickly. I thought my heart was going to stop the first time one of them jumped out of a tree. A tree! I swear I raised them to be smarter than that. They were fine of course but I almost lost my voice yelling at them.”

They laugh even harder and Derek just leans against the wall enjoying the banter between the two women. He can't actually remember the last time Melissa sounded so stress free. The Sheriff must be doing even better. Melissa chimes in with some more stories about Scott and Stiles. “One time I had Stiles over and was tired from working a double shift so I put a movie on and laid on the couch by the boys. I only nodded off for a minute. It was probably the silence that woke me up, I swear if Stiles is being quiet he's doing something he knows he's not supposed to. I found them in the bathroom giving themselves hair cuts. When I asked what they were doing Stiles said 'we're cutting our hair so you don't have to take Scotty later. So you can stay asleep.' It was so cute I couldn't yell at them. I just tried to fix it and begged John not to be mad at Stiles. He just laughed and said 'looking good, son.' I can't tell you how much it means to us that Stiles is here. John missed him so much.”

Derek starts to feel uncomfortable now. Emily still has laughter in her voice. “Stiles is happy to be here to help his dad. He is very family oriented. And you're right, when he's being quiet he's definitely doing something bad.” 

“Ah, I don't want to be rude. But I still think of him as the kid who used to sneak into my house to hang out with Scott when he was grounded. The only real punishment I used to come up with when they would younger was 'no Stiles'. It's hard for me to think of his leading a pack of wolves. He was always so bright but young.” Derek cringes at her words. 

Instead of being offended Emily laughs even harder. “I know what you mean. When I first saw Stiles I was very confused. I had just left my pack with my children in a hunter's SUV. A part of me secretly was scared I had just led my family into a trap. But they did what they said they would, they brought us to the pack and my husband was there. Safe and alive. After hugging my husband I noticed their Alpha. He was so young but he radiated power. It's hard to explain the instincts to humans but every wolf in the room was focused on him. It was very hard to put the visual I had in my mind of an Alpha who was able to send hunters into a rival packs' territory with the young sweet looking man who was sitting watching everything with a silly red hoodie sweatshirt with a Captain America shirt.” Derek smiles at the pride in her voice. He heard her heartbeat speed up with fear when she mentioned the trap but relax quickly after. She goes on with her story. “Andrea was the one talking. The wolves differed to her too so she was high in the pack, I found out later she was the 3rd. Seeing her very pregnant was a huge sign that this was a healthy pack. Female wolves only get pregnant when we feel safe and that our cubs are going to be raised healthy. It was a bit of a shock to see one of the hunters go and stand next to her but no one else freaked out so I tried to stay calm.”

Her voice turns even more amused. “Andrea was explaining that my family was safe and welcome here. That the Alpha had already looked into work for us if we wanted to stay but that he would do everything to make them safe in a different pack if they wanted. I was so blown away by all of it I didn't notice anything until one of my kids started to giggle. I turned to see what had happened when I saw that Stiles was making a forced innocent face. Andrea continued talking and my kids laughed twice more before I caught Stiles making a face at them. Everything broke into laughter then and Andrea snapped and started slapping Stiles in a playful way. He started to fake yell and demanded the pack save him. The second walked about and said 'Nope, pregnant wolf gets a pass'. Everyone went back to explaining where we could stay and how welcome we were there. After a couple minutes Andrea's older kids ran into the room and jumped on the Alpha and it devolved into a tickle fight.”

Derek doesn't realize it until he's wiping a tear from the corner of his eye that he hasn't thought of a pack feeling so much like a family since before the fire. His betas would never tell any stories like this because he can't think of any times that were this happy with his pack. Emily finishes her story. “We went to bed and talked it out. He said it was up to me. The next day we came down for breakfast and there was Stiles sitting with a kid on his lap feeding him breakfast. He said he was letting the parents sleep in. He took such good care of his pack I made the decision to stay. A week later my husband was a deputy and I had a nursing job. It was the best decision I ever made.”

Derek can actually smell the happiness she is giving off down the hall as he walks up to them. Melissa looks a little embarrassed and smiles as him. Emily nods her head respectfully but doesn't give an inch of submission. “Alpha Hale. It's good to see you.”

“How is John doing?” He asks them. 

Melissa gives a happy noise and responds. “He's doing much better. The swelling has almost gone down completely and John might even get to go home in a couple days.”

He gives her a half hug which he can tell surprises her and heads out. He has to do a quick patrol. He's been scenting a Morgan pack member in the south. They've been coming into his territory more often lately. He will have to call their Alpha and see what is going on. As he walks away he almost walks into a wall as Emily's words reach his ears. “Hmm, now that I've watched him walk away I know why my Alpha is still single. Are those pants painted on?”

The two women break into peals of laughter as he exits the hospital. Climbing into his car he hides a proud smirk. He's mildly proud of his body. He still works out everyday. And Stiles has been single all this time? He drives off with a smile on his face.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Quick chapter. Will get into a deeper plot story soon. Hope you like it.

Stiles felt better as he made it back to his house. A lot of his nervous energy was burned off in his run. So as he a little pissed off to see Scott and Jackson standing in his drive way watching Travis measuring his front porch and making notes. He really isn't in the mood to put up with Scott now but he does want to ask about the unfamiliar scent in the woods. 

He smiles at Travis who nods to Stiles. He walks up closer to the house and Scott looks at him like an excited puppy and Stiles has to keep himself from joining in and smiling at the boy. Jackson ruins the moment by being a dick. “Stilinski, what the hell have you been doing? You smell like ass.”

Travis growls and he can hear Lisa growling in the house. “I went for a run, Jackson. It's a good work out. You might try it. I can see that you've been slacking a bit. Not as ripped as you were in high school.”

Ok, that was mean but it did feel good. Scott makes a little hurt sound and says. “They won't let us into the house.”

“Well, since it's not your house I can see why they would do that.” He tells Scott. “What are you both doing here?”

Scott looks guilty. “We came to say hi. See if you wanted to hang out.”

He shakes his head “With Jackson too? Come on Scott. No one is that stupid.”

Scott pouts. “It's not stupid. We all used to hang out a lot. It's not that wrong to think that we could hang out again.” 

He is sometimes thrown by Scott's unfailing happiness. He wonders for a second if Scott's memories are actually painted with a pink light to make everything seem better. They probably are. “No Scott. I hung out with you and it happened to be around the pack. I've never liked Jackson. And he's never liked me.”

He glances at Jackson who gives a grudging shrug. Scott looks scandalized for a minute then looks down at the ground. “I thought we were all friends.”

He can hear the truth in Scott's words and just shakes his head. Travis breaks the tension. “Alpha.”

He turns and his beta has a raised eyebrow at the whole situation. They have a whole conversation in a few glances. “Fine. Let's move this inside. Last thing I need is Mrs. Dow down the street calling a deputy saying I'm having a party. Gossiping old bag.”

He nods towards the door and smiles as both of the Hale betas follow his order and move into the house before he does. He walks by Travis and squeezes his shoulder in a comforting way. His beta smiles and gets back to work setting up a ramp for his father. He's already bought the lumber and looks like he's rented a saw. He leaves his beta to it and goes into house. Lisa and Cassandra are sitting at the kitchen table eating and glaring at the Hales. 

“How was your run, Alpha?” Lisa turns look at him. Her glare turns warm and friendly. She takes a deep breath and he knows she catches the hint of an unfamiliar wolf. 

“It was fine. Burned off some extra energy. Smelled a strange wolf. You guys having any new betas?” He decides to cut to the chase. 

Scott looks even more confused and Jackson looks vaguely angry. Scott responds though “No. It's just us. We had some other betas but they decided to leave after a while. They didn't get along with us very well.”

Jackson growls and snaps at Scott. “Dude, stop telling him about our pack. Derek said we had to be nice not tell him our secrets. Him or some old broad who's with him.”

He can almost hear the dramatic music playing in the background signaling something horrible about to happen. Jackson continues to be insulting. “Now he's asking about wolfs. Trying to find a weakness. For all we know he's trying to humiliate us. He's still the annoying little shit who use to follow Lydia around all the time being creepy. He's not a leader. He's nothing.”

Stiles doesn't show any surprise at Jackson's words. He knows that Jackson's life hasn't been as awesome as the asshole planned in high school. His words are hollow and the beta smells of regret and old anger now. He turns to head to the staircase. He needs to shower and head to the hospital. “Whatever, Jackson. I have places I need to be.”

He hears Scott and Lisa make shocked sounds and knows Jackson is doing something stupid. He doesn't bother turning to look as he feels a rush of air go by him. He than hears a thud and the sound of drywall cracking. He smirks as Scott says. “What the fuck?”

He looks at Cassandra's annoyed frown and glances at the wall were Jackson is now pressed against it with a fine mist of mountain ash floating in front holding him a couple inches off the ground. “Have I mentioned that Cassandra is a witch and my pseudo-emissary?”

Cassandra stands up and moves into the living room. Stiles stops Scott from doing anything with a hand on his shoulder. Scott looks confused and a little hurt. Cassandra moves in front of Jackson who is growling and cursing. “You're a very rude little shit. You are a guest in this house. Your parents should have taught you better manners. Or at least your Alpha should have. You attacked an enemy who had his back turned. Which makes you a coward and pathetic. Alpha, why don't you shower. You were right, we have places to be.”

Scott follows him upstairs trying to get him to let Jackson down. Finally he just gets frustrated with Scott. “Dude, he was being a dick. He's lucky she stopped him and not me. I don't take shit anymore, Scott. I don't have to. He's never been by friend and to be honest, you're not my friend anymore, Scott. You're just not. And that's ok. Not many people stay best friends with their high school friends. Now I have people who need me, people who depend on me. So I'm going to focus on them and my dad. I'm happy to see you and know you're ok, but it's been years since you bothered to see me. Dude, friends don't do that. When I moved I called you at lease every week, only half the time did you ever pick up the phone or respond to a text. You're a shitty friend. No I going to shower and than go be with my dad in the hospital. You know the human in your pack who was hurt and I haven't smelled you stop by and even check on him. Seriously, do any of you actually even like each other? Whatever, tell Derek to call me. I scented a new wolf to the south. Could be nothing but I also haven't scented any of you in the woods for weeks. Patrol your territory dude.” Raising his voice so it'll travel down stairs. “Cassandra, let the asshole go. Travis and Lisa, escort them out. We have plans.”

He turns and heads into the bathroom and ignores the hurt sounds coming from Scott. He tries to not listen to the Hales leave his house. He means what he said to Scott, they aren't really friends anymore but it still feels like he kicked a puppy. Coming back here sucked.


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Derek starts to grow up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry for the delay in updating. I swear none of my works are abandoned. There was a couple huge issues with family and work so I haven't had time to write. Hope you guys like this one.

Derek was fuming. He had just had Scott and Jackson check in with him after meeting with Stiles. He could smell the blood on Jackson and the defeat and pain on Scott. “You tried to attack him?”

He rages at Jackson. The beta trying to placate him and doing a piss poor job of it. “He was questioning us about the territory. I just told him to shut the hell up about it.”

Derek doesn't need to be a wolf to know the blond is lying. “Scott, what really happened?”

He can tell Scott doesn't want to get anyone in trouble. “Well, he was asking about the territory. He said he smelled an unknown wolf and wanted to know about our size. He than yelled at us to patrol more since he couldn't smell us in the woods at all.”

Derek flushed in shame. It was true. They had stopped patrolling a while ago. He found it too hard to keep the pack doing it, Jackson especially. The spoiled boy had grown into a spoiled man. “Go on Scott, I know there's more.”

“Well, Jackson might have said some things about Stiles that were not very nice and might have been about how pathetic Stiles was in high school. Dick.” Scott mutters the last word towards Jackson who is growling and flashing his eyes. 

Derek is fed up with Jackson's attitude. “Enough Jackson. Quit growling, you're lucky I'm not giving you to them as an apology. You're not a value add to this pack if you're going to act like a child.”

His tone must show how fed up he is since everyone is looking at him with shock in his eyes. “You can't do that. I won't get with that pathetic spaz.”

He flashes his eyes at the boy. “That's it. You're on probation. One more act that pisses me off and you're out of the pack. I've tried to make you all listen to me. I've tried to be your Alpha but if you're all going to act like you don't have time to be a pack then get out.”

Scott and Isaac both whimper at his words. Erica and Boyd both look calm but he can smell the anxiety coming off of them. He's yelled before and even hurt them during training. Not that any of them trained very hard lately. Peter and Lydia both appear intrigued by his words. 

“It's my fault for letting it get this bad. But watching Stiles act like a real Alpha, watching his betas interact with him without trying. The way they all smell happy even with this tragedy. I heard one of the betas telling Melissa all about their pack. They work. We don't. They trust him. You don't trust me.” He took a deep breath. “We're going to make some changes. I haven't been able to keep any other betas but you because I've been to lax in this pack. We're not a family. We're barely a working unit. This isn't just something you do when you feel like it. This is a pack. And if you don't feel like actually working to make this better. Leave. But I won't be your Alpha, no one who stays will help you. You will be on your own but you won't have to listen to me again.”

He nods to the door. Jackson actually looks at the door. Derek can feel the tension in the group waiting to see what happens. Lydia breaks the stalemate. “Sit down Jackson. You're not leaving and now you look like a brat. You'd last a week on your own and then a hunter would kill you because you lost it and killed a human.”

Jackson looks like he's about to fight then huffs and goes to stand in the corner glaring at everyone. Derek nods at Lydia who gives him a 'don't fuck this up' look. He glares back. “Ok, Erica and Boyd, I want you patrolling the southern borders tonight. I want Scott and Isaac on the northern borders. We'll switch off every other night. Don't whine, it'll take two hours tops if you run.”

“Lydia, you and Jackson are going to start working on a plan to apologize to Stiles. He's a visiting Alpha in our territory and for that little sneak attack you did he is within his rights to challenge you. We both know he'll kill you.” Jackson growls at his words and Derek raises his eye brows at the noise. “Are you fighting me on this already?”

He's rarely called Jackson out for his bullshit so the blond looks surprised for a second then looks embarrassed. “Already said it, if you're going to be a dick you're free to leave.”

The boy just nods and Lydia ushers them out with a look like she actually approves of Derek. Peter walks over. “Ahh, nephew. It only took you to your thirties, but you've finally grown up.”

He flashes his eye and his uncle and is shocked when his uncle turns his chin baring his neck to Derek. An act that he hadn't seen his uncle do since his mother was alive. He smiles a bit smugly as Peter leaves the loft. Lydia gets up and flips her hair as if all of this is beneath her, which I might be, and walks to the bathroom before Derek can stop her. “Ahh, Derek, what did you do?”

Her voice is full of humor and judgment. He sighs. “I was upset.”

The rest of the pack rushes over to look at the bathroom. He might have lost his temper after listening to how wonderful Stiles was at the hospital. He walks over behind the pack and glances at his wrecked bathroom. He might have pulled the towel rack off the wall and broken the shower curtain rod. Not really a big deal but he's embarrassed he lost his temper. “I'm going by the store later to get replacements.”

They all laugh and walk away giggling. The serious meeting ending on a happy note. He watches as the pack leaves to do what he's told them to do, feeling like a real Alpha for the first time in a while. 

He gets ready for work and leaves early. He's going to stop by the local hardware store and get stuff for his bathroom. He wants the evidence of his tantrum gone soon. He walks in and gets smiles and nods from people who he has worked with, the years having remove the suspicion of most of the town. He is stopped in his tracks when he smells one of Stiles' betas all over the store. He follows the scent to the lumber department and sees the young beta talking to the salesman about a saw. It sets his hackles up a little to see a foreign beta so at ease in his territory. But he takes a deep breath to calm himself and takes in all the information he can from the beta's scent. He's a little shocked to smell how much the beta smells like Stiles. His betas don't like being scented by him that much. But this one smells like he's wearing Stiles cloths. It hits Derek that the pack must live together or see each other to have each others scents so closely mixed. 

He shakes that thought out of his head as he walks over to the end of the conversation. He hates that he breaks the rules about giving humans privacy a listens to the conversation. The salesman saying “It's so good that Stiles is back to help his dad. We heard about the Sheriff. Great man. Always there to help out. And how he talk's about that son of his. So proud. Just out of college and the owner of his own company. He was always going on about him all the time. And now he's back with this fine young man.”

He can smell the beta's embarrassment and wants to growl at the idea that Stiles is with this man. But luckily the beta corrects the salesman. “Oh no. Stiles is just my friend and boss. But you're right. We've very proud of him. He's the best leader I've ever had. Fair but ruthless.”

He knows that last part was for his benefit and feels a flush of shame that he can't imagine his wolves saying the same about him. But he's not surprised at Stiles being ruthless, when he was in high school his plans tended to be less about saving everyone and more making sure the bad guys were dead. Scott always would try to stop his friend. Derek tended to agree with Stiles. Scott was trying to save the world. Derek just wanted to save his pack. He had a horrible thought at one time that he might have to start over. His current betas didn't feel like a family and he hadn't been able to get any new betas to stay. 

He must have smelled like sadness because the beta turns and gives him a concerned look. He must be really pathetic that a foreign beta is looking at him like that. The movement makes the salesman look his way as well. “Ahh, Deputy Hale. Nice to see you again. Have you met Stiles' friend, Travis? We've been discussing the ramp he's building for the Sheriff. A nice young man that Stiles brought home to help.”

He can hear the wicked joy the salesman gets from embarrassing the beta. What's with older people an trying to make sure everyone was coupled up? He nods his head and tries to remember he's a respected member of the town and not growl at the idea of Stiles with this beta. “I have Mr Henderson, we met a couple days ago when Stiles got into town.”

“Of course you did. I bet you were waiting in the hospital for the poor boy.” Mr Henderson nods and Derek tries to not feel guilty about not being the hospital with the John. He was filing the paperwork to make sure the bastard who shot John would be denied bail and stay in jail until the hearing. He's grateful that the beta Travis doesn't call him out for not being there. He just lets the older man keep talking. “How is the Sheriff? We all feel so bad for that man. Keeping our city safe.”

Derek has never wanted to punch a human so badly in his life. Travis answers before he can. “The Sheriff is doing much better. Stiles thinks he'll be able to come home in a day or two. Hence me getting the ramp ready.” 

The salesman turns again to the beta and Derek feels like he's intruding again. “That's great to hear. My wife used to teach the kids and she had Stiles in her class. We didn't think the boy would recover after his mother, and then his dad. Ah thank god he's going to be alright.”

Derek feels a well of pain in his chest at those words. Stiles has lost so much and he forced the boy to give up even more. He had done it to keep the boy safe but he can hear Stiles' voice in his head telling him he's a idiot. It's right. From the amused look Travis is giving him he bets the beta can tell what he's thinking and agrees with him. He says his goodbyes and gets what he came to the store to get. He nods politely to people as they say hi. 

He gets to work and the days goes by quickly. There are a couple noise complaints and he covers the speed zones for a couple hours. Before he even really can dwell on what he did in the morning with his pack the day is over. He is able to give it a spare thought as he drives to the south. He's actually proud of himself. He reaches a wooded area towards the end of his territory and takes off running. Feeling the tension of the day seep out of his mind as he takes on speed he actually smiles. He hasn't had much to smile about lately. He is surprised how much the woods smell like Stiles. He is so focused on how good Stiles smells he almost misses the scent of a new wolf. Stiles was right. This is too far into his territory to be an accident. And it's the same scent as before. This is the start of a recon mission into his lands. He shudders in rage then fear. He's not sure he can hold his territory.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's a short update. I swear i'm still working on all my stories. Life just keeps getting in the way.

Stiles hung up his phone looking at Cassandra. “It's confirmed. The Martinez Alpha was killed by a cousin and he's young and trying to make a name for himself. Most of his pack disagreed with his tactics so he's moving north to get solidify a new territory.”

He gets up and starts moving around his old room. He almost empathizes with the young Alpha. When he first took the Johnson mantle of Alpha he was so confused and scared he would fuck up. But this little piss-ant had waited until after the previous Alpha had been wounded in a fair fight and was weakened. Most of the pack had scattered into the wind an refused to acknowledge the usurper. But a stupid Alpha was more dangerous then a controlled one so he understood why none of them challenged the ass. A lucky blow and they'd be killed the the young Alpha. Taking down a weaker but historically respected pack like the Hales would give him some legitimacy. So the Alpha might be an idiot but he had at least one person who stayed with him that was a force to be worried about knowing what the hell they were doing. 

“Options?” He turned to his betas with a raised eye brow. He already knows what he wants to do. But he wants their opinions too. 

Lisa growls. “We take your dad and head back home.”

He nods his head. He'd be lying if it hadn't occurred to him. He looks to Travis. Travis opens his mouth and is cut off by Cassandra. “It doesn't matter what you think, dear. Stiles is such a control freak, ah I mean detail oriented manager, that he's going to call some of our wolves to come join us, take full control of the situation, probably make a new alliance with the local hunters and completely slap down this upstart Alpha. Am I wrong?”

He smiles at her and all his betas give little smiles in return. He loves how his mood can elevate all of them. “That's about it. I've already texted the hunters and they're on way. Just waiting to hear back for the time of the meeting tomorrow with the locals Argents. Hmm, I wonder who is the leader, I doubt it will be Allison with all the crazy from her side of the family. Plus Chris hinted at new leadership when I was leaving for college but didn't go to much further into it. But we'll see.”

Having made his mind known he makes more phone calls plans a meeting that same day and then goes to visit his dad. Walking into the hospital he smiles and nods at the nurses and doctors as he passes them. He follows the halls back to his fathers room and finds Emily reading a book sitting by his sleeping dad. “How is he doing”” He whispers. 

Emily smiles and nods to his dad. “He's doing better. They had him sit up today. If you listen to his heart you can hear it getting stronger. But he's still weak. We'll need a couple more healing sessions before we can safely take him home. A couple days more if we don't want people talking about it.”

He nods his head while focusing on his dads heartbeat. It does sounds stronger. Less flutter in the movements. He hates the idea of his dad staying in the hospital longer then needed but he doesn't want there to be any 'miracle' recovery talks. He doesn't need that much exposure. The key to being a good Alpha was making sure there were no fodder for the rumor mill. Emily tilts her head. “You smell worried. What's up?”

“There was a regime change in the Martinez pack and the new Alpha is making a move on the Hale territory.” He says without preamble. He takes is a compliment to her faith in him that her heartbeat speeds up but she doesn't smell afraid. “Don't worry. I have plan.”

“Feel like sharing?” Her voice is calm but he can hear the annoyance behind it. 

“I've made some calls. Meeting a friend after this. It should help and I'm setting up a meet with the local hunters. We brought supplies as well and if it comes to a fight we'll be ok. My plan for you is for you to stay by my dad as a final defense. I don't think the Martinez Alpha knows I'm here yet so we have that advantage. Plus we're all pretty bad ass.”

Of course that is when his dad stirs. “Language Stiles.”

He smiles and goes to his dad. “Hey daddy, how are you doing?”

“I'm feeling a bit better. What about you being bad ass?” His dad already seems to be nodding off. He wants to keep talking to his dad but he know that sleep will help heal his dad faster. 

“Nothing, Pops. Just go back to sleep. I'll come see you soon, ok?” He asks but his dad just mumbles and he can hear his dads heart steady into a sleeping pattern. He leans over and scent marks his dad to cover the scent of the hospital. If a rogue wolf does end up here it'll scare off any of the most determined to go after a human marked by an Alpha. 

He scent marks Emily too making her laugh. He walks out of the hospital and drives quickly down Main st to a local cafe. He walks in and orders a coffee. His metabolism burns the caffeine faster now but he still loves it. He people watches until the person he's waiting for shows up. He smiles at the man. “Danny. Thanks for meeting me.”

“Long time no chat, Stilinski. What's up? I heard about your dad. I'm sorry man.” Danny sits down and Stiles can smell his confusion. 

“Thanks. I appreciate that. He'll be fine. I heard that you had moved back and were looking for a job in IT.” He smiles at the handsome man. Danny's confusion intensifies. “I'd like to offer you a job. But first, what did Jackson tell you about what really happened in high school?”


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I haven't stopped any of my stories. But life has gotten busy. sorry.

“So they never told you why I left? Interesting.” Stiles had explained to Danny what had happened to him since he left Beacon Hills. Being told to leave, being sent away. For his own good of course. He is a bit shocked to only catch a lingering scent of the Hale pack on Danny at all. It makes him sad to think of a pack member not carrying the scent of his pack. “So what did they say about me?”

“Well, they just said you went away to college. I didn't officially join the pack until after you left. Although you guys weren't as secret as you though. I heard whispers all through high school of wolves. I just had no idea that you were talking about werewolves.” He smiles at the humor in Danny's voice. 

He pitches his voice into a high falsetto. “No one expects werewolves.”

Danny rolls his eyes. “Dude. Not funny. So you said you had a job for me?”

“Yeah. I ended up running into you mom the other day at the store. She stopped me and wanted to catch up. Small towns. She said you hadn't really found an IT job yet in town. Is that because you want to stay with your pack or is there just not a lot of jobs in town?” He asks. 

“Ah a little of both. It was really nice when I first got home but we don't really do a lot as a 'pack'. I mean I do stuff with Jackson still but we don't to a lot of things all together. The wolves train together a lot but the humans don't really get to run with them. And I looked for work but most of the jobs offer very little or don't having any challenges to them. They either want someone who will do all the work and they don't know what it entails or they have a set up that doesn't work and want me to keep trying to make it work. Or they want someone who will work remotely from home and that has never been my thing.” Danny doesn't look sad at his words, just resigned. It breaks Stiles' heart. He can't imagine a human in his pack not feeling completely included. 

He aches to hug the man. “Well, I have a small construction company and need a better system. So you would be able to make your own system, I would pay you handsomely for your time and we have full healthcare and a 401K. My company also renovates and flips older building so we would be able to offer you a place to live as well. My pack holds all of the Eugene area of Oregon, past the Fern Ridge Lake up to the smaller Tangle Lake Area on the west up to Fall Creek area on the East. My pack is old and safe. There are people of every age group and we have an iron clad treaty with the local hunters. You'd be safe and able to prosper and thrive under my pack.”

Danny looks conflicted. He knows he's offering a huge change to Danny but he's honestly offering. He knows that Danny can handle the IT part of the job and he knows that Danny would be so happy in a larger pack. He remember the social butterfly that Danny was in High School. He needs to be around lots of people. He raises his hand gently but pulls a little on his command as Alpha. “Think about it. Until then I'd like to hire you for a part time project. You can ask Derek's permission for this. It'll help his pack. I need you to track some mobile phones for me. We have a lead on a smaller pack that is trying to make an incursion into Hale territory. I've given a statewide order that Beacon Hills is to be left alone while my dad is here so someone is clearly trying to buck my authority as well as piss the Hales off. So they have to be stopped.”

He hands Danny the list of numbers the hunters were able to get him of the Martinez pack and says a silent prayer that no one seems to be able to go anywhere without their phones anymore. Danny walks off and Stiles actually fights a growl back that he gets a blast of air from the door and Danny doesn't have the ingrained scent of pack on him. He finishes his coffee and makes some more calls, the first one to Andrea. 

“Hey Stiles, how is your father?” Her voice is calm and Stiles can hear the sounds of his pack in the background. He smiles at all the noise. He missed it. 

“Things are calm here. The trainings have been going well. The kids want to start play fighting. I told them it was up to you. And tell Emily her little hellions want to join in too.” Her voice sounds amused but he can hear the tension beneath it. Some of Emily's children are human. He hasn't set up a training for the human children yet. 

“I'll tell her you called them hellions. And don't worry about the kids so much. I have a plan.” He assures here. They talk a bit more before he gets to business. “So, if the Martinez pack is invading then we're going to need back up here. I want you to pick half a dozen decent fighters and get them in a car down here within a couple hours. Don't weaken our pack much so none of the best fighters. With the hunters here and our own supplies we'll be ok.”

“I already did that this morning.” She says mater-of-factly. “When you called asking about the Martinez pack heading north I figured you'd need a couple of back up fighters.”

“Ahh, god you're amazing. Any chance you'll leave your husband for me?” He says while laughing. 

“Sorry, I like my guys beefier then you. You're just too skinny.” She joins in the laughter. 

“Hey, I'll have you know I'm not skinny. I'm just lean.” He growls playfully at her. “Ok, gotta go but you are awesome.”

He smiles at some of the customers as he walks out of the cafe. He feels like a weight is off his shoulders as he heads to his Jeep. For just a second he thinks about how hard it would be to run a pack without Andrea. She's incredible. He thinks Derek must hate it. He had been sleeping secretly with the Derek for a few months but never actually can remember the feeling of closeness that he has with his own pack. He remembers trying to get them all to do stuff even just at school but Jackson and Lydia had been too eager to hold on to their status as the pretty people to really include him. 

He shakes off the feeling and glances at his phone. He has a joint meeting with the Hale pack scheduled in an hour and he has to pick up some supplies before they go to the preserve. 

 

*************   
Derek's POV. 

 

Derek stood on his front porch. He had rebuilt his home when the pack had been seniors. He felt a pang that Stiles had never been here even though the boy had been the one who had inspired the build. His pack is hanging around the yard trying to stretch and look impressive. Derek can clearly see the lines that divide the pack. Jackson and Lydia are by themselves in the peripheral and Isaac is with Allison and Scott while Erica and Boyd playfully spar closer to him. 

He catches a sound of a large SUV moving closer to his location. It must be Stiles and his pack. The Johnson Alpha had strongly suggested a joint training session to see what each pack could do. He had agreed since he wasn't really sure what to do about the Martinez packs aggression. 

Stiles black SUV pulled around the bend and came into full view. His pack scattered and Derek felt annoyed that they didn't all come stand by him. Show a united force with another pack here. Stiles flails out of the car with a laugh and is quickly followed by the rest of his people. Everyone is with him except Emily. Derek assumes she's still with the Sheriff. He is stuck by how the Johnson's keep gently touching each other, subtly scent marking each other. Derek knows his pack smell like each other but it's not ingrained in their behavior. Stiles is wearing a longer coat over his cloths. Derek and tell it hiding something but can't tell what. The Johnson's unload different cases and move closer to him. “Hey Hale. What did you have planned?”

Stiles voice carries over the distance easily and his wolves look to him for guidance. He clears his throat. “I thought we could have our pack attack each other. See what we're working with and then evaluate.”

Stiles smiles quickly and turns to one of his beta's, Lisa, Derek thinks. Stiles nods his head and she picks up a black case and jogs into the woods. His own betas look at him with confusion and he just scowls at them. Stiles starts to walk to the center of the clearing and the Johnson betas along with their human move closer and take spots on the porch. They are all relaxed and smiling. Stiles laughs. “Ok Hale. Have your pack attack me.”

He can feel the old anger rise up. This pack is so easy and happy. It just pisses him off. “Do it.” He growls as his betas move into action. He is almost ashamed that they don't move as a group. They just rush Stiles. Stiles drops his coat and Derek is shocked to see a bandolier of knives crossing the Alpha's chest. Stiles quickly takes a knife and moves it up to his mouth before sending it flying into Boyd who goes down with a grunt. Spinning Stiles repeats the move and Isaac goes down as well. Erica reaches the boy and Stiles slams his open palm into the blondes chest and as she bends down while stumbling Stiles is up on her back with his legs wrapped around her and as he throws them both down to the ground another licked knife flies out into Scott who goes down. On the ground a quick kick to Erica knocks her out and Stiles is up as Jackson reaches him. Derek is annoyed to see that Stiles is still smiling and hasn't even shifted a little. 

Cassandra moves up and sigh. “Ahh, this will wear him out. He'll sleep well tonight.”

Derek loses his patience as Stiles quickly breaks Jackson arm at the elbow and send the boy flying to land at Lydia's feet. Allison now moves to take action. She goes for the bow a few yard from her. But is stopped at the ring of a gun shot a few inches from the bow. Then Derek can see the little red dot on the ground were there must be a sniper pointing. Lisa. The wolf how ran into the woods. Derek yells out “Allison stop.” 

Moving quickly he engages Stiles jumping down and Stiles run at him. He spreads his feet to get a good stance to take the impact of the charging Alpha. He is taken for a surprise when Stiles slides down to his knees and keeps sliding while he's almost laying down. Derek gets his claws only slightly on the boy before he feels claws slice deep into his upper thighs making him yell out and stumble forward. He is dazed as he feels a knife slam into his back and then falls to his knees as his legs go numb from the tendons being cut. He feels Stiles grab his shoulders and then the weight of the Alpha is on him sending him to the ground and then Stiles claws are at his throat. Cassandra's voice calls out. “Enough.”

The weight is off him immediately and the knife pulled out. He can feel his body fighting to heal but it must have been coated in Stiles saliva. Alpha wounds take longer to heal. 

“So that could have gone better.” Lydia says as she walk up to Stiles. Derek tries to pull himself up but can't yet. 

“So how about you tell me what your pack is good and and we'll go from there?” Stiles asks Lydia. 

“Sounds good.” Derek can hear the sarcasm in Lydia's voice and growls a little. 

“Come on, sourwolf. I'm sure your pack has it's strong points. Let's get you guys healed and get planning.” Derek is a little shocked at the knick name from Stiles but grunts as he heals a bit more.


	13. Chapter 13

Peters POV

 

Peter growled in the back of his throat as he watched the fight end with his pack beaten and easily beaten. Stiles doesn't even look tired from taking the entire pack on. The Johnson's all come together and Peter aches for the easy bonds that he can see between the wolves and their emissary. The older women practically radiates power. He heard of her demonstration against Jackson. She looks like a women who could handle herself. She reminds him of his sister Talia. She has a quiet dignity about her. Stiles on the other hand is still a little spaz. He flails about making a silly joke to one of his pack mates. The easy way they all treat each other has Peter's heart hurting from memories of his family before the fire. Peter watches the respect in the eyes of the Johnson's when they look at Stiles and Peter has a horrifying thought 'what would have happened if I had bitten Stiles instead of Scott?'. 

The younger wolf comes trotting back into the clearing holding the black case. Peter is angry at himself for not thinking of her as a threat when she wondered away before the fight. He should have been paying attention to the whole situation instead of just Stiles. But the boy had a very commanding presence that was hard to ignore. Peter could feel a phantom hand on his neck reassuring him as Stiles repeats the gesture to the blond wolf. Her smile in return is open and easy. And completely trusting. The Johnson's all trust each other. The Hales are do not possess the easiness about themselves. For a few months it had seemed like they might make it and then his idiot nephew had kicked Stiles out and the rest had fallen away. Only showing up when Derek ordered them to come to training.

Peter goes to help Scott and rolls his eyes at the boys annoyed huff as Scott pulls away from him. It's been years and the boy still can't get over his anger at Peter. Scott stumbles away onto the arms of the huntress. She smells like embarrassment and shame. Peter can't blame her. She had been away from her weapon during a fight. Stiles gave her plenty of warning before he started. Anyone with her training should have been armed. 

The emissary, Cassandra, moved up to stand by him. “You're pack seems a little under trained.”

There is no judgment in her voice. Her heartbeat is steady. She makes a gesture with her hand and all the ambient sounds fade away. She must want some privacy. “But don't feel bad. I think Stiles has been planning that take down since the day he was bitten. Your nephew is never far from my Alpha's thoughts. He tries hard and is the best Alpha I've ever seen. My pack is healthy and happy. But my Alpha's heart is broken.”

He turns to give her his full attention. “And what do you think I can do about it?”

Her smile turns sad. “Nothing. There is nothing we can do about it. I just wanted you to know that Stiles has planned his response to being here very carefully over the years. He is wise beyond his age but still is so young. He was just showing off but I do suggest that you get your Alpha to let him plan the coming fight. His mind is truly wonderful.”

“Oh I know. The boy is brutally ruthless and terrifyingly imaginative. I'll get my nephew to go along with what ever plan Stiles has thought up.” He growls watching Stiles move to help the last of the Hales up, black lines moving up his arms as he pulls the knives out of the remaining wounded. The reduction of pain would help the healing process, speeding it up. “What would my pack be now if I had bitten him instead of Scott?”

“Hmm, I have a feeling you'd be dead, and would have stayed dead, and Stiles would either be a very competent second or the Alpha. No one puts baby in the corner.” Her voice is amused. 

“No, Derek hesitated too much when I was still rampaging. Scott didn't have it in him to kill me than, but I remember the look on Stiles face when he lit me up with that cocktail. He knew it would kill me and he did it without hesitation. Had he been a wolf at the time he would have been flawless.” He tells her. 

“I'm not so sure of that. He had a long time to get to know werewolves before becoming one, I don't think he would have been as able to handle it as you do. He was still a bit wild when he turned. One minute calm and collected then the next wanting to rip something apart. He got control but he was forewarned and thus forearmed against what was happening to him. Could have been a different story if he had been turned in high school.” Her voice is reasonable but Peter knows need in his heart that Stiles was the one he should have bitten that night. The Hale pack would have risen as something incredible. Not this helpless pack that barely functioned. 

The combination of Stiles' brain and the abilities of an Alpha had clearing been a winning grouping. He let his mind drift back to the last time he felt hope for his pack. The Alphas were still in town getting more vicious as the days go by and Derek was sleeping with Stiles and thinking he was getting away with hiding it. Peter enjoying making his nephew uncomfortable but secretly approving of the relationship. Derek had begun to actually listen to the boy with the quick ruthless mind. Until he had clearly fallen too much in love with the boy and lost all sense of reason.......

Peter walked to a warzone in the loft. The smell of anger and rage were overpowering from Stiles and guilt and fear from Derek. “I don't care what you think, Stiles. You don't know what you're taking about.”

“It's a good idea, Derek. You don't seem to be coming up with anything that is working against them. I don't want to find another dead body.” Stiles has the beginning of tears in his eyes. This fight must have gone on for some time. 

“I don't care. Get you.” Derek growls. Peter can smell how much pain Derek is in saying those words. “I should have never listened to anything you said. Get out.”

He'll give Stiles some credit. The boy doesn't plead or beg. He does smell like killing rage. The boy no one really looks at closely, who is far more then he seems, drags his emotions under control and quickly walks out of the loft. 

Peter walks over to Derek. “Really Derek? The boy has a brain. You should be thanking god that he actually likes you.”

Derek didn't respond just ran away. Peter was so disappointed. It was a couple days later that he ran into Stiles by accident. The boy was walking out of a store talking on his phone to the little Argent girl. “Allison, is your dad home? Good tell him I'm coming over. No, I dont' care if you think it's a good idea or not. It's happening. Tell him to be waiting or the next call you and he will get will be from the feds. I'm done fucking around.”

He followed behind the boys jeeps to the Argent house and watched the boy go inside. He moved without being seen to within hearing distance. Chris was the first to talk “Stiles, Allison said you had something to discuss.”

“Yes, this situation is no longer working. You're going to help us. Now.” Stiles voice doesn't waiver and Peter feels a bit of pride in him.

“And why would we do that? We're staying out of this. It's a pack thing.” Chris sounds annoyed at the boy. 

“Cause if you don't my next call is to the cops to tell them when I was taken by your dad as a warning for my best friend to say away from his precious granddaughter and while I was in your basement getting beaten I saw Boyd and Erica tied up in your basement.” Stiles sounds like he gives zero fucks now. “I know you cleaned up well but with Gerald's disappearance and the unexplained suicide of your wife, it's going to look pretty fucking bad for you. It's an easy story to spin. Kate was insane, a sexual predator that you and Gerald hid. It's not hard to think that maybe the apple fell from that crazy ass tree and that is why two teens when missing and your poor wife killed her self when she found out. I'm betting the forensics will find trace amount of Erica and Boyd's blood on your weapons from when you had fun sticking them in our classmates.”

Peter takes some satisfaction from the girls pained gasp. “I know that sucked Allison but the time for being nice is over. You did a bad thing now you get to pay for it. You too Chris. So, you're going to do as I say or you're going to jail for a very long time.”

Peter doesn't bother to hide his smirk at the strangled sounds coming from Chris. Stiles continues to run over the conversation. “And if you're thinking of pulling a grandpa on me and just kidnapping me to keep this quiet I should let you know that I have set up a video to be emailed to the entire Beacon Hills Sheriff's dept a video of me tell them them that if something happens to me it would be your fault.”

Peter laughed the entire way back to the loft. Within a week the Alphas were driven out of town with three of their members either dead or dying. He has pieced it together after the fact. Stiles had slipped trackers into the cloths of the two younger Alphas who were sleeping with the young hacker and Miss Martin. Stiles used the information to find where they were staying and then had the hunters hit it while he and Lydia had gone after the Demon wolf, they had put vaporized wolfsbane into the vents of Deucalions pent house and when he had gone down they had simply walked in and slit his throat and made it look like a home invasion gone wrong. Planting the evidence on the fleeing Alphas had assured everyone that even if they regrouped it would be easy to get the human authorities involved. 

Stile had never forgiven Derek for not listening to him and by the start of his senior year was only talking to Lydia and Scott.......

Shaking himself he turns to give Cassandra his full attention. “He'll listen to Stiles or we'll have a different Alpha.”

Her smirk matches his as she subtly waves a hand and the noise from the field comes back into focus. She walks away with purpose and is quickly surrounded by her pack, easily wrapped in the loving bonds again. Her smirk never leaves her face as she turns to Stiles and whispers in a way that makes it impossible to hear her. Stiles bursts into laughter and puts his arm around her shoulders. Peter aches for his pack again.


End file.
